UW Student Claims $13 Million Prize

A University of Washington graduate student on Monday claimed the $13 million Washington state Lotto prize from the May 11 drawing, a lottery official said.

Aleta Binion of Gig Harbor decided to check her tickets “on a lark” last Friday night and discovered she had won the seventh largest of 390 jackpots since 1984, lottery spokesman Richard Paulson said in a statement.

Binion, who spent two dollars on tickets for the May 11 drawing at a Seattle grocery store, said she “staggered around in shock for two days until the Lottery office opened.”

A live-in aide at a home that provides community-based services for the developmentally disabled in Seattle, Binion hopes to teach the Japanese language after leaving college with her teaching certificate.

Binion said the Lotto purchase was only the third or fourth time she has played Lotto. Her current plans include buying a house, a car and donating money to National Public Radio.