This is one of the most searched questions in the lottery, so here is the straight answer from our own archive — every Powerball draw since the game moved to its current 5-of-69 format in October 2015, through August 2026. That is 1,393 draws and 6,965 individual balls.
Then we will show you why these lists cannot do what people hope they do — using a number that appears near the top of both the "hot" and the "overdue" list at the same time.
Most drawn white balls
Each of the 69 white balls should appear about 100.9 times if the game is fair.
| Rank | Number | Times drawn | vs expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 61 | 124 | +23 |
| 2 | 21 | 123 | +22 |
| 3 | 64 | 122 | +21 |
| 4 | 28 | 119 | +18 |
| 5 | 36 | 117 | +16 |
| 6 | 27 | 117 | +16 |
| 7 | 63 | 116 | +15 |
| 8 | 23 | 116 | +15 |
| 9 | 32 | 116 | +15 |
| 10 | 69 | 115 | +14 |
Least drawn white balls
| Rank | Number | Times drawn | vs expected |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 75 | −26 |
| 2 | 49 | 81 | −20 |
| 3 | 26 | 82 | −19 |
| 4 | 46 | 83 | −18 |
| 5 | 34 | 84 | −17 |
Yes — the least drawn Powerball number is 13. It is a genuinely fun coincidence and absolutely nothing more; some number had to come last, and the superstitious one landing there is exactly the sort of pattern our brains over-read.
The red Powerball
The red Powerball is drawn from a separate pool of 26, so each should appear about 53.6 times across 1,393 draws.
| Most common | Times | Least common | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 66 | 16 | 40 |
| 14 | 65 | 17 | 44 |
| 21 | 63 | 8 | 46 |
| 24 | 62 | 7 | 46 |
| 18 | 61 | 15 | 46 |
The number that breaks both systems
Now the part that matters. Look at 23. It is the 8th most drawn white ball in the entire dataset — a card-carrying "hot" number. It has also not been drawn in 67 consecutive draws, the longest current drought of any number in the game — which makes it the headline "overdue" number too.
So which is it? Play 23 because it is hot, or because it is due? The two most popular lottery systems in existence look at the same ball and give opposite instructions, and both sound authoritative. That is the tell. These are not signals with predictive content; they are two different ways of slicing a random sequence, and you can always find a number that flatters whichever story you wanted to tell.
Why the gaps look bigger than they are
Number 61 has been drawn 124 times and number 13 only 75 — a gap of 49 that feels enormous. But randomness is lumpier than intuition expects. With 1,393 draws, chance alone should spread the counts across roughly 81 to 121 for most numbers, and across 69 of them a couple of outliers beyond that range are entirely ordinary.
We tested this formally. A chi-square test of uniformity on this exact dataset returns 79.9 against a 5% critical value of 88.3 — Powerball passes. The distribution is statistically consistent with a fair draw, and the hot and cold lists above are what a fair draw looks like. We walk through that analysis, and a full backtest of the hot-numbers strategy, in are lottery numbers really random?
It is worth stating plainly: the machine has no memory. Ball 13 does not know it is behind, and ball 61 does not know it is ahead. On the next draw each has exactly the same 1-in-69 chance of coming out first that it has always had.
What frequency data is actually good for
Two honest uses.
First, as a record. It is genuinely interesting to know what has happened over a decade of draws, in the same way historical weather data is interesting. We publish it for every game on that basis — as history, not as a forecast.
Second, and more usefully: to avoid popular numbers. This is the one place where number choice has a real, measurable effect. Published "hot" lists get played heavily, and dates keep most players inside 1–31. If you win with a heavily played combination you are more likely to split the jackpot — which is a genuine reduction in what you take home. Choosing unpopular numbers cannot improve your odds of winning by any amount at all, but it can improve what winning is worth. That is the entire edge available to a lottery player, and it is the opposite of what hot-number lists tell you to do.
See also quick pick vs self-pick and do hot numbers win more often?, or browse the live frequency charts on the Powerball page.
Figures cover Powerball's current 5/69 matrix (7 October 2015 – 12 August 2026) from NumbersIntel's own verified archive, and shift slightly as new draws are added. For information and entertainment only — not financial or gambling advice. Every lottery game is negative-expected-value; play for fun, never as an investment. You must be 18+ (21+ in some states). If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-GAMBLER.