Staff report

A Rockwell man is among the big winners in the N.C. Education Lottery.

Donald King of Rockwell became an instant winner of $25,000 on Friday morning.

King bought a Wild Card Cash scratch-off game at Cheeseman General Store, 9805 Old Beatty Ford, Rockwell.

King, the single father of a 5-year-old, has already decided what to do with the money.

Most of the $25,000 is in a savings account for his daughter, Destiny. “It won’t come out until she’s 21 or she goes to college,” King said.

“She picked out the ticket. I told her it was her money,” King said. He did agreed to her request for a trip to Chuck E. Cheese and a trip to Disney World.

They’ve already feasted on hamburgers and are planning a trip to Disney World.

King, who works for Multi-Wall in Salisbury, said he buys two lottery tickets a day with Destiny picking out one.

So far, she’s picked out a couple of winners — one for $20 and one for $40.

“She’s telling everybody she’s rich,” King said.

Prior to the lottery coming to North Carolina, King said he often went to South Carolina to buy tickets or play Powerball. His previous big winner was $512 from Powerball.

An employee at Cheeseman’s said King is a regular, often stopping by the store morning and evening.

“He’s our first big winner,” said Sharon Carroll, who said ticket sales have increased since King hit the scratch-off jackpot.

Carroll said ticket sales of that particular game — Wild Card Cash — have increased dramatically. “We have a lot of folks wanting that particular card.”

Since Friday, lottery players players won prizes totaling more than half a million dollars in Carolina Cash 5 and Powerball.

The lottery paid out about $4.2 million last week to instant scratch-off players.