How often do consecutive Powerball numbers turn up together?

Powerball has been drawn as 5 numbers from 69 plus a Powerball from 26 since October 2015. Everything on this page counts only the 1,418 draws since that change.

26.2% of Powerball draws contain at least one pair of neighbouring numbers, like 17and18. Chance predicts 26.5%.

Across 1,418 draws, 372 had a neighbouring pair where 376 were predicted. Three in a row turned up 16 times against a predicted 18. Draws that look "too tidy" turn up about as often as the arithmetic says they should.

What was measured

Draws counted
1,418
every draw on record
With a neighbouring pair
26.2%
chance predicts 26.5% (-0.2 standard errors)
Neighbouring pairs per draw
0.29
chance predicts 0.29
Three in a row, in total
16
chance predicts 18

Red marks a figure outside the range ordinary variation produces

How to read this what counts as a pair

A neighbouring pair is two numbers one apart, such as 17and18, both in the same draw. Three in a row is three numbers like 171819. Each draw was sorted and checked for both.

The chance prediction is exact. The number of ways to choose 5 numbers with a given number of neighbouring pairs is a counting formula, so no simulation is involved. It is worked out for each draw using that draw's own pool and then added up, because the pool changed size during the record and a larger pool makes neighbours less likely.

How many pairs a draw holds 1,418 draws

Neighbouring pairs in the draw Draws Predicted vs chance
None 1,046 1,042 +0.4%
One pair 336 342 -1.7%
Two pairs 35 33 +5.8%
Three or more 1 1 -5.5%

Predicted counts add up each draw's own chance, using that draw's pool.

Which neighbouring pair has come up most 68 pairs ranked

Together most often

PairTogetherPredictedvs chance
66and67 13 6.0 +115.1%
01and02 11 6.0 +82.0%
17and18 11 6.0 +82.0%
21and22 10 6.0 +65.4%
35and36 10 6.0 +65.4%

Together least often

PairTogetherPredictedvs chance
28and29 1 6.0 -83.5%
25and26 2 6.0 -66.9%
11and12 2 6.0 -66.9%
65and66 3 6.0 -50.4%
51and52 3 6.0 -50.4%

A pair is compared only with the draws it could have appeared in, so a pair that exists only under the larger pool is measured over those draws alone.

The recent run latest 200 draws

In the last 100 draws, 24.0% held a neighbouring pair. Over the whole record it is 26.2%, and chance predicts 26.5% for these draws. That is inside the range ordinary variation allows for 100 draws.

49.4%3.6%
2025-07-02 to 2025-08-16: 35.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2025-08-18 to 2025-10-01: 20.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2025-10-04 to 2025-11-17: 30.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2025-11-19 to 2026-01-03: 20.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-01-05 to 2026-02-18: 20.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-02-21 to 2026-04-06: 40.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-04-08 to 2026-05-23: 20.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-05-25 to 2026-07-08: 15.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-07-11 to 2026-08-24: 25.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)2026-08-26 to 2026-10-10: 20.0% (chance predicts 26.5%)
2025-07-02each dot is 20 draws2026-10-10

result for the blockrange ordinary variation allowsoutside that range

A good run says where the measure has been, not where it is going. Each draw is drawn afresh, and a neighbouring pair is exactly as likely next time as it was before.

Applied to the latest draw draw 1418 · 2026-10-10

0104193351

This draw held no neighbouring pair. Of the five pairs that have come up together most often, 0 appeared in it.

The chance of a given neighbouring pair showing up together in the next draw is 0.43%, the same for every pair, however often it has come up before.

Why the top pair is not a discovery

66and67 lead the list, together 13 times against 6.0 predicted (+115.1%). It is the best of 68 pairs, and the best of 68 tries is above average by definition: rank any 68 pairs of a random record and one has to come first.

4 of the 68 pairs sit more than two standard errors from their predicted count. With 68 tries, about 3.1 would be expected to do that by chance alone. The lowest, 28and29, is the mirror image and means as little. Nothing here says anything about the next draw.

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