Thunderball UK
Pick 5 numbers from 1–39 and 1 Thunderball from 1–14
Thunderball UK statistics
Number frequencies, gaps, pairs and sums for Thunderball UK, from 1,590 draws.
Main numbers 1–39
How often each number has been drawn since Mar 1, 2019. The dashed line is the expected count if every number were equally likely.
Thunderball 1–14
How often each number has been drawn since Mar 1, 2019. The dashed line is the expected count if every number were equally likely.
Hot
Most drawn in the last 100 draws
Overdue
Longest time since last drawn
Sum of 5 numbers
Mean 100.1. Half of all draws fall within 84–116.
Odd / even
Odd numbers per draw
Frequent pairs
Any given pair comes up about 21.5 times on average.
Does this work? An honest check
Every draw is an independent random event: every line has the same chance of the top prize, 1 in 8,060,598. The AI Agent’s lines are a selection based on past draws, not a forecast.
Uniformity test (χ²): main numbers p = 0.982, Thunderball p = 0.217. With p above 0.05 the differences in frequency look like ordinary random noise.
Backtest on the last 150 draws: for each draw every strategy picked numbers from earlier history only (3 lines per draw), then matches were counted.
| Strategy | Avg. matches (of 5) | Thunderball matched | 3+ matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hot numbers | 0.624 | 6.7% | 0.89% |
| Overdue numbers | 0.653 | 5.6% | 0.67% |
| All-time leaders | 0.662 | 8.4% | 0.89% |
| Typical shape | 0.667 | 7.8% | 1.11% |
| Frequent pairs | 0.631 | 6.2% | 0.89% |
| Random pick (theory) | 0.641 | 7.1% | 1% |
Most drawn Thunderball numbers
Across 1,590 Thunderball draws in LottaGo's data since Mar 1, 2019, the most drawn main numbers are 11, 26, 18, 15, 24, and 28. The charts above cover every main number from 1 to 39 and every Thunderball from 1 to 14, with total hits, hits in the last 100 draws and the current gap. These are counts of past draws. They do not make any number more likely in the next one.
What a fair count looks like
Each Thunderball draw takes 5 main numbers out of 39, so any one number has a 5 in 39 chance, about 1 in 7.8, of appearing. Over 1,590 draws, a fair game should give each main number roughly 1,590 × 5 ÷ 39 hits. Each Thunderball from 1 to 14 should come up in about one draw in 14.
Thunderball is drawn four times a week, about 208 draws a year, so its history is long. Even so, the counts never line up exactly. With more than a thousand draws, the most and least drawn main numbers can be 40 or 50 hits apart in a perfectly fair game. The dashed line on the chart shows the expected count, so you can see how close the "most common" numbers really are to average.
Hot, cold and overdue numbers explained
Hits in the last 100 draws
The hot panel ranks numbers by hits in the last 100 draws, which is only about six months of Thunderball. In 100 draws each main number is expected about 13 times. A hot number on 18 or 19 has had a good run, and that is all it is. Thunderball "hot picks" for today carry no extra chance.
Gap: draws since a number last appeared
The gap counts draws since a number was last drawn. With equal chances, the average gap is about 8 draws for a main number and about 14 for a Thunderball. Because there are four draws a week, a number can go two or three weeks without appearing quite normally. "Overdue" only means the longest current gap. The next draw does not owe that number anything; believing it does is the gambler's fallacy.
Pairs, sums and odd/even balance
- Frequent pairs shows which two main numbers have come up together most often. There are 741 possible pairs from 39 numbers, and the leaders are only modestly ahead of the average shown under the chart. Thunderball hot pairs are a description, not a tip.
- Sum of 5 numbers adds up the main numbers of each draw. Most totals fall in the middle of the range, because far more combinations make a middle sum.
- Odd / even counts odd main numbers per draw. Splits of 3–2 and 2–3 are the most common.
None of this changes the 1 in 8,060,598 chance that any single line wins the £500,000 top prize.
Is Thunderball random? What the χ² test shows
LottaGo runs a χ² (chi-squared) uniformity test on the counts. It asks how surprising the spread of hits would be if every ball had the same chance, and gives the answer as a p-value. A p-value above 0.05 means the differences look like ordinary random variation. The current p-values for the main numbers and the Thunderball are shown in the "Does this work? An honest check" panel above. The draws are run by the National Lottery operator, Allwyn, not by LottaGo.
Do hot or overdue numbers help? The backtest
LottaGo tested its own strategies on Thunderball. In a walk-forward backtest over the last 150 draws, each AI Agent strategy (hot numbers, overdue numbers, all-time leaders, typical shape, frequent pairs) picked 3 lines per draw from earlier results only. They matched about as often as random lines. Our guide do hot and cold numbers work? explains why, using several games.
Enjoy the statistics as statistics: they are a good way to see randomness at work, not a way to beat it. Keep to the budget you set. To look up a draw by date, open past Thunderball draws. For other games, see the most drawn numbers in other lotteries.
Thunderball statistics FAQ
Which Thunderball numbers are drawn the most?
In LottaGo's data since Mar 1, 2019, the most drawn Thunderball main numbers are 11, 26, 18, 15, 24, and 28, counted over 1,590 draws. The Thunderball leaders from 1 to 14 are in the separate Thunderball chart. With four draws a week, the order can change within days.
What Thunderball comes out most?
The separate Thunderball chart on this page ranks every Thunderball from 1 to 14 by hits since Mar 1, 2019. In a fair draw each one is expected about once every 14 draws. The leader is usually only a little ahead of the average, and it has no better chance than any other Thunderball next time.
Are overdue Thunderball numbers more likely to be drawn?
No. Every Thunderball draw is independent. A main number that has missed 40 draws still has a 5 in 39 chance of appearing in the next one, exactly like every other number. LottaGo's backtest found that overdue picks did no better than random lines.
Is Thunderball rigged, or are the draws random?
The data looks random. LottaGo's χ² test compares how often each number has been drawn with what a fair draw would give. A p-value above 0.05 means the differences are within ordinary chance. The draws are run by Allwyn for the National Lottery; LottaGo only records and counts the results.