(PARIS) - More than 30 million Europeans will buy tickets this week in the hope of scooping the 130 million euros (190 million dollars) up for grabs in Friday's Super EuroMillions draw, the lottery said Wednesday.

Ticket sales have soared for the record-breaking contest, the fourth since the nine-country lottery was launched in 2004, with French gamblers accounting for the lion's share with around a quarter of all bets placed.

Every week about 15 million people try their luck at ticking the seven lucky numbers in the standard EuroMillions draw.

But unlike a regular draw, where the jackpot rolls over to the following week if there is no outright winner, the Super EuroMillions is split on the night between the closest winning tickets.

The last two draws, in February this year and September 2007, were both shared between more than a dozen players.

But the first Super EuroMillions jackpot of 100 million euros was picked up in February 2007 by a Belgian player, against odds of 76,275,360 to one.

He became the second biggest winner in the history of the game after Irish mother-of-six Dolores McNamara picked up 115 million euros in July 2005.

The world lottery record is held by the United States which had a lottery jackpot of 363 million dollars in May 2000.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.