The Mega Millions jackpot keeps on climbing as it reached $334 million for Friday’s drawing.

A winner tonight would have the choice of taking home the $334 million jackpot as an annuity or $155.7 million in cash.

“Big jackpots for Mega Millions also equal big wins for education in North Carolina,” said Mark Michalko, chief executive officer of the N.C. Education Lottery. “While we would love to see a jackpot winner here tonight, we also love seeing how much money a big jackpot run raises for education in the state.”

Even though the jackpot remains up for grabs, players are taking home lots of other prizes playing Mega Millions. Tuesday’s drawing produced more than 18,500 winning tickets in North Carolina.

Nationally, the Mega Millions game has delivered three jackpot winners so far this year. The most recent win occurred in Texas with an $810 million jackpot on Sept. 10.

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million.

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

For details on how money raised by the lottery makes a difference for education programs in all 100 North Carolina counties, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.