At some point between the morning of November 5 and the evening of November 7, Edwin Castro walked into Joe's Service Center in Altadena, California, 30 minutes northeast of downtown Los Angeles. I don't know what brought Edwin to the gas station. Maybe it was… gas. Whatever got him there, the most important thing to know is that Edwin drove away from Joe's Service Center with a single Powerball ticket.
In a normal Powerball drawing, the numbers would be pulled in the evening. In this case, the evening of November 7. However, in an unusual twist of fate, there were technical difficulties on November 7, so a drawing wasn't actually pulled until the following morning.
On November 8, at 8:34 am, the following magic sequence of numbers were locked-in: White balls 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and red Powerball 10.
Within a few hours Powerball announced that a single winning ticket had been sold at Joe's Service Center in Altadena. We would soon learn the name of what now stands as the largest Powerball jackpot of all time. That winner's name was Edwin Castro. His prize?
$2.04 billion
Edwin chose the lump sum option over the annuity. His pre-tax lump sum payment?
$997.6 million
California is one of two states that does not tax lottery winnings, so after paying roughly $370 million in federal taxes, Edwin Castro will be left with…
$627.6 million
In cash. Presumably sitting in a savings/checking account at Bank of America or Wells Fargo until he figures out a more professional money management system.
There have been 122 days since Edwin Castro won generational wealth thanks to something that came with odds of 1-in-300 million. And Edwin is not wasting any time at all in upgrading his life to match his newly-enormous bank account.
As first spotted by the Los Angeles Times, Edwin Castro just paid $25.5 million for this mansion in the Hollywood Hills:
Not much is known about Edwin Castro. For a minute I thought he was the same Edwin Castro from nearby Pasadena who works as an assistant manager at a Jos. A. Bank clothing store. Some further digging has led me to believe that this is a different Edwin Castro.
Whoever the real Edwin Castro is, we do know he's potentially facing a vague lawsuit from someone named Jose Rivera who claimed in legal documents that the winning ticket was stolen from him. Unclear if this suit has any legs.
While that lawsuit works itself out, Edwin will be laying his head at his new three-story, 13,000 square foot mansion that has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. As you can see from the video above, the newly constructed mansion (which had been listed for $30 million) has modern concrete walls and endless marble floors leading to an infinity pool that looks directly out at Los Angeles skyline. There's a home theater, fitness studio, wine cellar, bar and glass-enclosed garage with a rotating floor for easy maneuvering.
It's not exactly my style BUT it is EXACTLY the kind of purchase I would make if I won a $2 billion lottery that left me with $630 million cash in the bank.
Congrats to Edwin! I hope your lottery fortune doesn't turn, like it has for so many other lottery winners.
