Pairs, Triplets, Quadruplets etc

[Frank]

Doug,
I was wrong in my guess above for the 649, actually the probability of being drawn ONCE is not a twelfth but an eighth approximately. For twice in a row you have to square that figure, so its about one in 64 draws on average.
I just looked at probabilities for the UK 659 and the actual results over 158 draws (with 59 balls). Probability of a named ball being drawn is 10% so probability of being drawn twice in a row is 1%, about 1 in 100. This is backed up by actual results where, in general there has only been one occasion over 158 draws where any ball has been drawn twice on the trot. With such enormous odds you could never predict when it would happen, events can be early, on time or 10 times overdue, so the next event can be 10 draws away or 1000 draws away. Its a non starter as a predictive tool, unfortunately. As for three in a row at once in a 1000 draws, you could wait 10 years for it to happen.