Saturday, 16 March 2013

Its nearest twin

Shares 4 of 5 numbers (10, 15, 28, 34) with the draw of 20 September 2012 — its closest relative in 459 draws. Chance gave a match this close a 19% likelihood somewhere in that history.

From the draw just before (14 March 2013): nothing carried over. Chance says 56% of draws repeat at least one number.

Sum and shape

The numbers add up to 120 — the 92th percentile of all possible tickets, around a middle of 90. Side-by-side numbers: 33–34. 48% of draws have at least one such pair.

The longest wait in this draw

15 had not appeared for 16 draws. A number waits about 7 on average, and a wait this long was not a signal — the machine has no memory of it.

How many people held it

A line like this is played about 0.5× as often as an average ticket — less popular than most. At 30 million tickets sold, a winner on these numbers would keep about 2% of the jackpot.

Illustrative model, calibrated to published studies — not live sales.