North Carolinians have the chance on Monday night to play for a Powerball jackpot that now exceeds a quarter of a billion dollars.

The Powerball jackpot weighs in at $253 million as an annuity, or $178.9 million cash. The jackpot has been growing since the Oct. 4 drawing when a ticket sold in California won a $699.8 million jackpot, the 5th largest in Powerball history.

“Winning a quarter of a billion dollar jackpot would be an amazing, life-changing event,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “This is the size of jackpots that players want and our Monday drawings are helping to deliver them. It would be great to see someone from North Carolina win this big tonight.”

Since August, the Powerball drawings are held on Mondays as well as Wednesdays, and Saturdays. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball offers nine ways to win, with prizes ranging from $4 to the jackpot. In Saturday’s drawing, there were 22,517 winning tickets in North Carolina, including a $50,000 prize won by someone from Charlotte who bought the ticket through the lottery’s website using Online Play.

The Mega Millions jackpot is growing too and has now crossed the $100 million mark. Tuesday’s drawing offers a jackpot of $102 million as an annuity, or $73.3 million cash.

Players can buy Powerball or Mega Millions tickets at any lottery retail location or through Online Play on the lottery’s website, www.nclottery.com, and with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.

Ticket sales from draw games such as Powerball and Mega Millions help make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds have made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.