A 36-year Boeing employee noticed at a local grocery store in her home of Auburn, Washington, that the Powerball jackpot had reached $747 million.
The 747 jumbo jets are probably Boeing's most famous aircraft, so Becky Ball couldn't resist buying a lottery ticket. In another coincidence, the jackpot had reached $747 million the very week in which Boeing sold its last 747 ever. Were the stars aligning?
Even though this long standing Boeing employee had already spent the weekly allocation she gives herself for buying lottery tickets, Becky Ball says she “had to buy one more ticket” when she saw the number at her local grocery store. And (yes, you guessed it) she won the whopping jackpot!
She had intended to retire fairly shortly but has now accelerated her timing to the end of this month and, in good news for her extended family, she plans to share her new fortune with them.
To top it off, her local grocery store received a $50,000 gift from the state lottery for being the one who sold the winning ticket, which they plan to donate to feed the homeless and needy, as well as a $10,000 party thrown for the associates of the store.