(AUSTIN) – Until Monday, Kevin Fawks of Dallas had never played the Weekly Grand scratch-off from the Texas Lottery®. He would just buy Lotto Texas® Quick Picks occasionally.

Then a friend told him he’d had a lucky streak with the instant ticket game. The conversation prompted Fawks to try Weekly Grand for the first time. On his way to work, he bought two tickets and set them aside.

Later, he decided to scratch the tickets, but the first one wasn’t a winner. Fawks picked up the second ticket and started scratching. At first, it didn’t look much better. Then they appeared, three GRAND symbols right in the middle of the card qualifying him for the top prize, $1,000 a week for 20 years.

He called his wife with a familiar refrain, “I’m having a heart attack.”

She told him, “Just calm down. You’ll be okay.”

Having heard this routine many times before, she didn’t think much of it. Then he told her he’d won some money.

No one in the family knew whether to believe it until he produced the ticket from his truck’s glove compartment. The family knew right away the money should go toward college tuition for the kids.

“Many of our players use their winnings toward college,” said Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Anthony J. Sadberry. “We are proud to have contributed more than $10 billion toward Texas education since 1997, and it is good to know that the prize money will help this family benefit from continued education.”

Fawks’ ticket also brought a stroke of luck to the Racetrac #476 located at 6675 Cedar Ridge Drive in Dallas. Selling the winning ticket makes the retailer eligible for a $10,000 bonus.

Friday’s Mega Millions® jackpot is worth an estimated $27 million. Saturday’s Lotto Texas jackpot is worth an estimated $7 million.