In Powerball under the 5/49 + 1/42 · Nov 1997 – Oct 2002 rules — 514 draws, 5 from 1–49 (an earlier era).
56times drawn · chance expected 52 +0.52σ
15draws waiting · a wait this long: 22% for any number
9.0average wait between appearances · chance says 9.8
39longest completed wait · 60% chance of one at least that long
16 is drawn as often as chance explains
Drawn 56 times in 514 draws against 52.4 expected, +0.52σ. Each draw is independent: after 15 draws away it is exactly as likely tonight as a number drawn yesterday.
16
Number 16, draw by draw
Drawn 56 times in 514 draws · average wait 9.0 draws · longest completed wait 39 · waiting 15 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 1 of the other 48 numbers; chance expects about 0.5 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 49. 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 5/49 tonight whatever it did last week.