Washington (AFP) - A network participating in the US "Mega Millions" lottery won Friday night a jackpot of more than $ 1.33 billion, in one of the largest cash rewards in lottery history, organizers announced Saturday.

And the lottery game account in the state of Illinois in the middle of the eastern country wrote, in a tweet on Twitter, "Mega Millions players, check your tickets! We have a winner (...) in Illinois. Stay tuned for more details!"

"We can't wait to find out the winner and hope to congratulate him soon!" said Pat McDonald, CEO of Mega Millions, in a statement.

The grand prize was initially estimated at $1.28 billion, but "the final value was higher than that estimated," based on actual sales, Mega Millions said.

Lucky in Friday's draw will get 1.337 billion if he agrees to pay the installments over 30 years.

But if he wants to receive his prize in one go, he will get “only” $ 780 million, an amount that will be deducted in part for taxes, according to the estimates of those in charge of “Mega Millions”.

The value of the grand prize for this lottery continued to increase steadily for more than three months, and the dreams of the participants in the game grew with it, while no one succeeded in guessing the correct six numbers in the last 29 draws that preceded Friday's draw.
The chances of winning this tempting amount did not exceed one in 303 million. For comparison, the probability of being struck by lightning is one in a million, according to data from US health authorities.
The largest prize in lottery history was $1.586 billion. It was won in January 2016 in the other major US lottery, the Powerball, but the money was divided among three winners.