SEATTLE — The winner of the $754.6 million Powerball jackpot was revealed by Washington's Lottery on Friday afternoon.
Becky Bell, an Auburn resident who has worked for Boeing for 36 years, claimed the Powerball jackpot on Tuesday, February 28.
Bell said she purchased the winning ticket on Feb. 5 while grocery shopping at a Fred Meyer in Auburn, representing the fifth-largest jackpot in the history of the game.
Bell spends $20 on lottery tickets each week, and had already spent her money for the week, but said she "had to buy one more ticket” after seeing a lottery sign at Fred Meyer. The sign showed the estimated $747 million jackpot and it stood out to her as a reason to buy another ticket because just that week Boeing delivered its last 747 jumbo jet.
She said she had been planning to retire in June, but now she will retire at the end of March after she helps train other employees at Boeing. She plans to split the money among her family.
She chose the lump sum option, which is where you get the prize immediately in cash. After taxes, she walked away with $309 million.
This is the second Powerball jackpot to be won in Washington state. A woman won the $90 million jackpot in 2014 after buying the winning ticket in Auburn.
The retailer which sold the winning ticket also gets a selling bonus of $50,000. The Fred Meyer that sold the winning ticket donated the bonus money to the Auburn Food Bank, in honor of its Zero Hunger | Zero Waste campaign to end hunger and eliminate waste.
“Hunger and food insecurity are critical issues across the state and partnerships like this one with Fred Meyer and QFC aim to shrink the numbers of people facing food insecurity,” said Debbie Christian, executive director of the Auburn Food Bank.
According to a prepared statement from Fred Meyer President Todd Kammeyer, Fred Meyer is giving $10,000 to the store that sold the ticket "for our associates to celebrate."