Tonight's Mega Millions draw included the elusive triple-number sequential run: 7-18-37-38-39 +9
It got me thinking about how often it happens. Turns out not so often.
The last occurrence was 1/24/14 (45-47), roughly 106 draws ago and none occurred at all in 2015.
These are the only 2 that have happened since the matrix change (Oct. 2013) when WB count went from 56 to 75.
I went back through 3 additional years (roughly 300 draws) that were (pre-matrix change) and found 10 occurrences in roughly 300 draws:
7/2/13 (51-53), 6/4/13 (10-12), 7/27/12 (2-4), 5/15/12 (10-12), 3/23/12 (19-21), 8/6/11 (41-43) ,4/29/11 (9-11), 3/15/11 (10-12), 2/18/11 (5-7), 10/26/10 (30, 31, 32)
Another thing I noticed is the occurrence of 'almosts' - where 2 numbers were sequential and missed the 3rd by only one number.
The last occurrence of this was 20 draws ago on 10/27/15. As an example, it was: (26-27-29). No other 'almosts' through 2015 or 2014.
Before the matrix change, the 'almosts' were roughly 1 in 50 draws.
I've also gone through 10 years of PB results (roughly 1000 draws) and the occurrences were even less. 12/1000 and the 'almosts' were about as proportionately scarce. WB count is 56 vs 59 for the comparison (both games pre-matrix change), so I'm guessing those 3 extra balls can skew it that much. If that's the case, I wouldn't expect to see another in MM anytime soon (or PB for that matter - last one was 4/4/15).
Unless these happen in the lower 'calendar numbers', I don't think anyone picking their own numbers has a chance of hitting these. I've seen a fair number of QPs with them, though. The past 5 years of MM JP-winning draws did not contain any of these. Tonight there were no 5+0 winners, nationwide.
I found no quadruple-number sequential runs in any PB or MB results. I do believe that CA SLP has had one within the past 200 draws, but WB count is only 47 is that game.