Boeing Worker Claims $754.6M Powerball Jackpot

OLYMPIA, WA — The Washington woman who bought the sole jackpot-winning Powerball ticket last month, which ended up being worth more than $754 million, came forward to claim her massive payday this week.

The Washington State Lottery identified the winner in a news release Friday as Becky Bell, an Auburn resident who has worked as a supply chain analyst at Boeing for three decades. Bell said she was shopping with her daughter at Fred Meyer that Sunday when she noticed the jackpot had hit $747 million, taking it as a sign to play the odds one more time in honor of the company's final delivery of a 747 jumbo jet earlier that week.

That ticket would prove to be the only one sold for the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot in history, and only the second ever won in the Evergreen state. By the time of the drawing, that jackpot had ballooned in value to $754.6 million.

Bell said it took some time for her to realize the ticket was hers, and even longer for the reality of it all to set in.

"I was working virtually the next day and getting ready for my 6:20 a.m. meeting, and I scrolled over to the news widget, and it popped up and I saw a story about the winning ticket being sold in Auburn and thought, 'That could be me,'" Bell said in a statement. "After my meeting, I scanned my first ticket and it wasn't a winner. Then I scanned the second ticket and it said 'Winning ticket. Claim at Lottery Office.' So, I knew I had won at least $600, which was pretty exciting."

Bell, a regular lottery player, said she usually is in for about $20 a week, but before now had never won more than a few bucks. After waking up her son and daughter to double, triple and quadruple-check the ticket, it started to become real.

"I've never won more than $20 in my life," Bell said. "So you can imagine my shock when I realized what had just happened. I just broke down and cried."

Already preparing for retirement in June, Bell said she plans to finish out her 36-year tenure a few months early, but not before she finishes training her replacements to leave the company in a good spot.

Upon arrival at the lottery headquarters to validate her ticket, lottery officials told Bell she had won an extra $8 dollars on a separate set of numbers.

Luck seems to be in the air in Auburn, as it was also home to the woman who won a $90 million Powerball jackpot in 2014. Lottery officials noted that winner's husband also worked for Boeing, and in the same building as Bell.

Winners have the option to take the payout over 29 years or opt for a single cash payment, which this time around was valued at $407.2 million.