There are lottery wins and then there are lottery wins. You’d like to think your numbers coming up in a state lottery would mean the rest of your life would be easy, but so many winners find that prizes of a couple of million dollars evaporate much more quickly than they anticipated.
Edwin Castro probably doesn’t have to worry about that. In 2023, his numbers came up in the California Lottery, which at the time had seen more than 40 consecutive drawings before Castro won. His prize? A jaw-dropping $2.04 billion jackpot.
This is the all-time largest jackpot for a single ticket, and after tax, Castro walked away with a cool $997.6 million. As a bonus, the California school system got a nice cash boost, with the drawings that made up his gigantic jackpot totaling an impressive $156.3 million.
Castro, who’d been educated in this very school system, said: “It’s gratifying to hear that, as a result of my win, the California school system greatly benefits as well.” The scale of Castro’s win also set new benchmarks for lottery operations, a renewed focus on security, and put payout protocols to the test. Lottery organizers now use Castro’s win as the template for what they should do with a “mega jackpot”, particularly as he managed to remain anonymous until deciding to go public.
He’s also personally using his money to change the world for the better. Castro lost his new home in the Malibu wildfires, but has used his funds to help rebuild Altadena, saying, “When I won, I promised myself I’d use the blessing to make a difference”:
When I won, I promised myself I’d use the blessing to make a difference. Rebuilding Altadena isn’t business it’s homecoming. The goal is simple: bring families back, keep the community alive, and build something that lasts beyond headlines.
— Edwin Castro (@EdwinCastr99605) October 14, 2025#AltadenaRebuild #edwincastro pic.twitter.com/Y6X67jSsfi
Was the ticket stolen?
But, as a great man once said: “Mo money, mo problems”. Vultures immediately began to circle Castro after his win, and he was quickly hit by a lawsuit from a man alleging the winning ticket had been stolen from him.
This ultimately came to nothing, and a judge ruled that even if your lottery ticket is stolen, that doesn’t mean you have the right to any money won from it. As per TMZ, the judge wrote: “The person in possession of a winning lottery ticket is the presumptive owner/winner” because each player is “solely responsible for securing their Tickets against theft, loss, damage, or destruction.”
Castro, who was formerly a mechanic from a modest background, has indeed been living a dream life since his win. He went public with an Instagram post alongside his new model girlfriend and shelled out for a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Here’s hoping he sticks by his motto to change the world for the better with his “blessing”.
