The $10 ticket that kept catching his eye is sending 4 first-time visitors to Disney World

A father in Goldsboro, North Carolina, has turned a $10 scratch-off ticket into a Disney World plan for his family. Willie Dennis won a $1 million top prize and said part of the money will go toward taking his four daughters to the Florida resort for the first time.

A scratch-off win with a Disney trip already in mind

Dennis won the first $1 million top prize in the North Carolina Education Lottery's Moneybag Cashword game, according to an announcement made Nov. 4. The ticket came from Adams Convenient Mart on West Ash Street in Goldsboro.

He said the destination for some of the winnings was clear. "I'm going to take them to Disney World," Dennis said of his four daughters. "They've never been before."

The purchase itself was not a random one, at least in his telling. Dennis said the ticket had stood out to him repeatedly. "Every time I go in the store it's been catching my eye," he said.

For Disney fans, that is the detail that makes this story instantly relatable. The win was large, but the first family plan Dennis shared was not a luxury car or a house purchase. It was a first visit for four children who had never been to Disney World.

Why the million did not mean a million in hand

Dennis claimed the prize on a Monday at lottery headquarters. Like many top-prize winners in scratch-off games, he had a choice in how to take the money.

The options were $50,000 a year for 20 years or a $600,000 lump sum. He chose the lump sum.

After required state and federal tax withholding, the amount he took home was $432,063, the lottery said.

That breakdown helps explain the headline number behind the win. Dennis did hit a $1 million top prize, but the immediate cash-out option was lower before taxes, and lower again after withholding. Even so, the final amount was enough for him to point to a Disney World trip as one of the first uses for the money.

What kind of ticket was it, and are there prizes left?

Moneybag Cashword is a $10 crossword-style scratch-off game that the North Carolina Education Lottery released on Oct. 6. Dennis became the first person to claim one of its top prizes less than a month after the game went on sale.

The play style is built around letters and word grids. Players reveal 18 letters, then uncover the matching letters in the puzzles. Completing three or more words in a puzzle wins that puzzle's prize.

There are also special symbols. A moneybag symbol on a completed word doubles that prize, and a stack of cash symbol reveals a bonus prize.

The overall odds of winning anything in the game are 1 in 3.56, according to the lottery's game page. Most wins are much smaller than Dennis' payout.

Moneybag Cashword launched with four $1 million top prizes. Dennis claimed the first one, leaving three still unclaimed. As of Nov. 4, the lottery listed the odds of winning one of those remaining top prizes at 1 in 1,334,430.

A Disney pattern, and a local lottery connection

Dennis is not the only lottery winner to talk about Disney World as a family goal.

In April 2024, a father in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, who won $100,000 on a $10 Million Spectacular scratch-off said his family was planning to take their kids to Disney World. In March 2024, a woman in Northbridge, Massachusetts, who won on a $10 Cashword ticket and took a $650,000 lump sum also planned to take her kids to Disney World.

The lottery also tied Dennis' win to a broader state message about where ticket revenue goes. It pointed to Wayne County, Dennis' home county, which has received more than $28 million in state grants from lottery money to help build a new elementary school.

So the story lands on two very different scales at once. For Dennis, the standout detail is a first Disney World trip for four daughters who have never been. For the state lottery, the same announcement also served as a reminder that scratch-off sales feed public funding projects back home.