In Powerball under the 5/49 + 1/42 · Nov 1997 – Oct 2002 rules — 514 draws, 1 from 1–42 (an earlier era).
10times drawn · chance expected 12 −0.65σ
89draws waiting · a wait this long: 12% for any number
42.8average wait between appearances · chance says 42.0
147longest completed wait · 24% chance of one at least that long
16 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 10 times in 514 draws against 12.2 expected, −0.65σ. Each draw is independent: after 89 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
16
Number 16, draw by draw
Drawn 10 times in 514 draws · average wait 42.8 draws · longest completed wait 147 · waiting 89 draws now
a completed wait — darker is longer the wait still running — a lower bound, not a finished gap
Where it lands in a sorted draw
Sort a draw and 16 has a favourite seat — chance gives a small number the low positions more often. That is the shape of sorting, not of the machine.
Never drawn alongside 41 of the other 41 numbers; chance expects about 41 such strangers by now. Every pair →
How many people play it
Under the crowd model, 16 is picked about 1.22× as often as an indifferent choice — 15th most popular of 42. That changes nothing about whether it comes up, and everything about how many ways a jackpot on it would be shared.
Nothing here predicts the next draw. A number’s history is a record of a fair machine’s past, and the machine keeps none of it: 16 is drawn with probability 1/42 tonight whatever it did last week.
Powerball number 16 (star deck) — how often, how long a wait, and with whom — LotteryOracle