Players in North Carolina can kick off their weekend with a chance to win a $381 million jackpot in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing.

A winner tonight would have the choice of taking home the $381 million jackpot as an annuity or $175 million in cash.

“This is when player excitement really begins to build,” said Mark Michalko, chief executive officer of the N.C. Education Lottery. “We hope we will get to celebrate a big jackpot win in North Carolina this weekend.”

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 10,300 winning tickets in North Carolina.

The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 290 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.