Federal Way woman wins $2.9M lotto, surprises sister with split; ticket bought in Auburn

Beverly Bowman and her sister, Tammy Taylor, are close – very close. Still, Taylor was confused when Bowman came over for a visit on Sunday, walked in and immediately asked her for a dollar. Taylor’s son ran over to his dad’s wallet on the counter, grabbed a dollar and handed it to his aunt. He’d just bought his mom half of a Lotto ticket worth $2,900,000.

April 13, 2010 4:11 pm
Beverly Bowman
Beverly Bowman

Beverly Bowman and her sister, Tammy Taylor, are close – very close.

Still, Taylor was confused when Bowman came over for a visit on Sunday, walked in and immediately asked her for a dollar. Taylor’s son ran over to his dad’s wallet on the counter, grabbed a dollar and handed it to his aunt. He’d just bought his mom half of a Lotto ticket worth $2,900,000.

“I always knew I would win someday. My dad always said, ‘Bev is the lucky one,’” Bowman said at the Lottery office in Federal Way. “And I always knew I would split it with Tammy.”

Her dad was right. Bowman bought a $2 Lotto ticket at the AM/PM store at 320th Street and Military Road in Auburn last Thursday while filling up her gas tank. On Sunday, she stopped into her local Fred Meyer to scan it. The machine said $2,900,000 Lotto winner.

Bowman didn’t believe it, so she asked a nearby clerk to print out the latest Lotto numbers for her. She read the numbers one-by-one, “1-14-16-23-36-38.” They all matched. Still in disbelief, Bowman asked the clerk if she would check it as well.

The clerk inspected the ticket, looked up and exclaimed, “You just won the Lotto! Two-point-nine-million!” She immediately urged Bowman to sign the back of her ticket. Bowman did so, and started to head out of the store, ticket in hand. “Stop!” yelled the clerk. “Put that away!” Bowman stashed the ticket in her purse and headed to her sister’s house where she would break some very good news.

Bowman and Taylor have lived in Federal Way for the last 20 years. As for their winnings, they’ll pay off bills. Opting to take the winnings in a lump sum, they received a check for $1,087,500 on Tuesday at the Washington Lottery headquarters in Federal Way.

Bowman is buying a new car and the pair will be taking a cruise together with their families later this year.

Bowman works as an operations manager at a real estate firm and Taylor is an industrial engineer.

Bowman bought her Lotto ticket at AM/PM on 3910 S. 320th St., in Auburn. For selling the winning ticket, the store will receive a retailer selling bonus of $29,000.