Most Common Lotto NZ Numbers
Which Lotto NZ numbers come up the most? Are some numbers "hot", and are others "due"? We counted every number drawn in all 714 draws since 1 January 2020, when the current numbers started. And then we checked whether any of it actually means something. Let's find out!
- The most and least common numbers
- Hot and cold numbers
- The most common pairs
- Does any of this mean anything?
The most and least common numbers
In Lotto NZ, 6 numbers are drawn from 40. So over 714 draws, each number should have come up around 107 times. Here's how they actually did.
| Number | Times drawn | Last drawn |
|---|---|---|
| 24 | 126 | 24 October 2026 |
| 10 | 125 | 28 October 2026 |
| 17 | 121 | 24 October 2026 |
| 25 | 119 | 14 October 2026 |
| 12 | 118 | 26 September 2026 |
| 28 | 116 | 24 October 2026 |
| 29 | 116 | 28 October 2026 |
| 40 | 116 | 28 October 2026 |
| 13 | 115 | 24 October 2026 |
| 22 | 115 | 14 October 2026 |
| Number | Times drawn | Last drawn |
|---|---|---|
| 39 | 83 | 7 October 2026 |
| 36 | 88 | 3 October 2026 |
| 8 | 90 | 31 October 2026 |
| 18 | 91 | 7 October 2026 |
| 7 | 92 | 7 October 2026 |
| 14 | 94 | 7 October 2026 |
| 16 | 94 | 23 September 2026 |
| 37 | 97 | 21 October 2026 |
| 9 | 98 | 17 October 2026 |
| 3 | 100 | 17 October 2026 |
Number 24 leads the way with 126 draws, while number 39 has only come up 83 times. That's quite a gap! But before you rush to play 24, hold that thought: we'll see why in a moment.
Hot and cold numbers
"Hot" numbers are the ones that have come up the most lately, and "cold" numbers are the ones that haven't been drawn for a while. Some players swear by them, either riding the hot streak or betting that a cold number is due.
| Number | Times drawn |
|---|---|
| 37 | 12 |
| 13 | 11 |
| 4 | 10 |
| 8 | 10 |
| 14 | 10 |
| Number | Draws since |
|---|---|
| 15 | 22 |
| 2 | 18 |
| 11 | 12 |
| 16 | 11 |
| 12 | 10 |
Here's the thing though: the balls have no memory. A number that came up three times last month is no more likely to come up tonight, and a number that hasn't been drawn in 22 draws isn't any closer to being "due". Every draw starts from scratch.
The most common pairs
Which two numbers have come up together the most?
| Pair | Times drawn together |
|---|---|
| 17 and 27 | 26 |
| 1 and 11 | 25 |
| 10 and 25 | 25 |
| 5 and 28 | 24 |
| 12 and 28 | 24 |
With 780 possible pairs, a few were always going to come up together more often than the rest. Just like the numbers on their own, it's chance at work.
Does any of this mean anything?
Probably not, and we can check! Even with perfectly random balls, some numbers come up more than others. Flip a coin 100 times and you'll rarely get exactly 50 heads. The real question is whether the gaps are bigger than chance alone would produce.
Statisticians answer that with a chi-square test. For the 714 draws above, it tells us that perfectly random balls would give a spread at least this uneven 25% of the time. In other words, nothing out of the ordinary: the numbers are just as random as they should be.
So the most common numbers aren't any more likely to be drawn next, and the least common ones aren't due either. Every combination has exactly the same chance. Want to put that to the test? Play your favourite numbers thousands of times in our Lotto NZ simulator, for free.