"Collapsed and Cried Loudly" Man Who Won $1 Trillion US Lottery

Aircraft Manufacturer Boeing Employee
"Planning to Work Only Until This Month"

An employee of the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing reportedly won the Powerball lottery and received 1 trillion won.

On the 5th (local time), The Seattle Times in Washington state reported that Becky Bell, who lives in Auburn, won the first prize in the Powerball lottery, one of the US lotto lotteries, last month. The prize money was $754.55 million, equivalent to 981.6 billion won, which is the highest amount in the history of the Washington state lottery.

Bell, who usually bought $20 worth of lottery tickets, had already purchased one ticket when the jackpot increased. Then, in early February, while shopping with her daughter at the US market Fred Meyer, she felt an impulse to buy one more lottery ticket.

Boeing employee wins Powerball lottery.
[Photo by Washington State Lottery Office website capture]

The Powerball jackpot amount displayed on the lottery vending machine monitor was $747 million, which reminded her of the recently delivered 747. Bell said in a statement released by the Washington State Lottery Office, "At that moment, I suddenly thought of the Boeing 747 and bought one more lottery ticket."

The ticket she bought had the winning numbers 5, 11, 22, 23, 69 and the Powerball '7'. To win the Powerball first prize, one must match all six numbers: five white balls numbered 1 to 69 and one red Powerball numbered 1 to 26.

The drawing date was February 6, but Bell checked the numbers after work the next day after seeing an article that the winning ticket was sold in Auburn, where she lives. She said, "I had never won more than $20 from buying lottery tickets before," and "The shock I felt when I found out I won is unimaginable. I just collapsed and cried."

As a Boeing supply chain analyst, this year marks her 37th year, and she was scheduled to retire in June, but she plans to work only until this month after completing the handover of her duties.

Meanwhile, since its launch in 1970, a total of 1,574 Boeing 747s have been produced over more than 50 years. It is called the "Queen of the Skies," opening the way for full-scale long-distance air travel. However, its position diminished after the fuel-efficient 777 was introduced in the mid-1990s, and the last 747 was delivered on the 1st of last month.