Edwin Castro won the largest lottery prize in United States history: a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot from the drawing held for Monday, November 7, 2022. He bought the ticket at Joe’s Service Center, a gas station in Altadena, California, a few miles from where he grew up. Instead of the 30-year annuity, he took the cash option of $997.6 million.
If you have only heard the headline, the rest of the story is the interesting part. Castro never held a press conference. He was identified publicly by the California Lottery on February 14, 2023, sent a short written statement, and then went quiet. In the years since, he was sued by a man claiming the ticket was stolen, lost one of his houses to a wildfire, and started buying burned lots in the town where he bought the ticket.
Here is what the public record actually shows about Edwin Castro, drawn from California Lottery announcements, court filings, and reporting by the Associated Press, CBS News, NBC News, and the Los Angeles Times.
The drawing that made Edwin Castro a billionaire
The November 7, 2022 Powerball drawing did not happen on schedule. As the Associated Press reported, the drawing was delayed more than 10 hours because a single participating state had not finished processing its ticket sales. The numbers were finally drawn at the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee on Tuesday morning, November 8, at 8:57 a.m. Eastern time.
The winning numbers were 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, with a red Powerball of 10. The jackpot had been advertised at an estimated $1.9 billion on Monday. After the final sales figures were counted, Powerball raised the official grand prize to $2.04 billion, with a cash value of $997.6 million.
One ticket in California matched all six numbers. Under Powerball’s published game rules, the odds of matching all five white balls plus the Powerball are roughly 1 in 292.2 million. That single ticket was worth more than any lottery prize ever paid in the U.S. to that point.
How the win became public
California is a disclosure state. Under state law, the California Lottery must release the name of a winner and the location where the ticket was sold, which is why Edwin Castro could not stay anonymous even though he clearly preferred to.
The California Lottery announced his name on February 14, 2023, at a ceremony in Sacramento led by then-director Alva Johnson. Castro declined the state’s invitation to speak with reporters. He submitted a written statement instead, saying he was “shocked and ecstatic” to have won, according to CBS News coverage of the event. A ceremonial check was displayed beside the podium with no winner standing next to it.
The retailer was paid too. Joe Chahayed, who owns Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, received a $1 million retailer bonus from the California Lottery for selling the winning ticket, as widely reported by the Associated Press and local outlets. Chahayed did speak publicly, and the station became a minor tourist stop.
The lawsuit over the ticket
Within weeks of the announcement, a man named Jose Rivera filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court. As NBC News reported, Rivera claimed he had bought a Powerball ticket at Joe’s Service Center on November 7, 2022, and that it was taken from him by a man he identified as a former landlord, Urachi “Reggie” Romero. Rivera’s suit named Edwin Castro, Romero, and the California Lottery.
Castro’s attorneys denied any connection to either man and said surveillance video clearly showed Castro buying the ticket. The California Lottery publicly stood by its process, telling ABC News it had confidence it paid the rightful winner and that the claim went through the state’s verification procedures.
The case did not go to trial. A Los Angeles County judge issued a tentative dismissal in September 2024, and the dismissal became final in early October 2024 after Rivera did not file paperwork contesting the ruling. No appeal followed, and the matter is closed. No court found that Edwin Castro obtained the ticket improperly.
What Edwin Castro did with the money
Property records reported by CBS News, NBC Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Times show a series of Southern California real estate purchases starting in 2023. In March 2023, Castro bought a Hollywood Hills compound for about $25.5 million. Around the same period he purchased a roughly $4 million home in Altadena, a single-level, Japanese-inspired 1953 house of about 4,361 square feet, miles from the station where he bought the ticket.
He also bought a Malibu beachfront property for roughly $3.8 million. That house did not survive. In January 2025, the Palisades Fire burned it to the ground, as reported by the Los Angeles Times and Fortune. His Hollywood Hills and Altadena homes fell inside evacuation zones during the same fire siege but were not destroyed.
Public reporting has also noted an interest in cars, including collectible Porsches. Beyond the documented purchases, little is confirmed about how Edwin Castro spends or invests, because he has given no interviews and issued no follow-up statements.
Edwin Castro and the rebuilding of Altadena
The Eaton Fire tore through Altadena in January 2025 and destroyed thousands of structures, including much of the neighborhood around Joe’s Service Center. By October 2025, TMZ, Fox 11, and Pasadena Now reported that Castro had spent roughly $10 million acquiring about 15 burned lots in the town.
According to those reports and follow-up coverage in the Los Angeles Times, the stated plan is to build mostly single-family homes and sell them to buyers who intend to live in Altadena long term rather than to investors. Architectural plans were submitted for the first two houses.
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Progress has been measured. The Los Angeles Times reported that as of May 2026, two of the houses were under construction and permits had not yet been filed on the remaining lots. The same reporting identified Castro as the second-largest buyer of vacant Altadena lots, behind a company called Ocean Development Inc. Local reaction has been mixed, with some residents welcoming the investment and others uneasy about outside buyers accumulating land.
How the taxes worked on a prize this size
The gap between $2.04 billion and $997.6 million is not a tax. It is the difference between a 30-year annuity and the immediate cash value of the prize pool, a choice every Powerball jackpot winner makes.
Taxes come after that. The California Franchise Tax Board states plainly that it does not tax winnings from the California Lottery, which includes SuperLotto Plus, Powerball, and Mega Millions. Federal tax still applies. The IRS requires withholding on large gambling and lottery prizes, and the amount withheld at payout is a prepayment reported on Form W-2G, not a final bill. A prize of this size lands in the top federal bracket, so the eventual liability is settled on the tax return, not at the counter.
Reported figures for what Castro netted after federal tax have circulated in the press, but the exact amount is a private tax matter and has never been confirmed by him or by any agency.
What winners can learn from this
A few things in this story are simply how the system works, and they applied to Edwin Castro whether he wanted them to or not.
Disclosure rules vary by state. California publishes a jackpot winner’s name and the selling retailer, and no request for privacy changes that. Publicity also invites claims: a competing claim was filed here, litigated for more than a year, and dismissed. The cash option and the advertised jackpot are two different numbers, and the advertised figure is the annuity total. State treatment of lottery income differs, and federal obligations run separately from state ones.
The last lesson is a quieter one. Two of the biggest events in this story after the win, a house lost to the Palisades Fire and a hometown burned by the Eaton Fire, had nothing to do with money at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Edwin Castro actually receive?
He chose the cash option of $997.6 million rather than the $2.04 billion annuity paid over 30 years, according to the California Lottery. Federal tax applied to that amount; California does not tax California Lottery prizes. The final net figure has never been officially confirmed.
Did anyone prove the ticket was stolen?
No. Jose Rivera’s lawsuit claiming the ticket was taken from him was dismissed by a Los Angeles County judge, final in October 2024 after Rivera did not contest the ruling or appeal. The California Lottery said it verified the rightful winner.
Where was the winning ticket sold?
At Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California. Owner Joe Chahayed received a $1 million retailer bonus from the California Lottery for selling it, the standard California bonus for a jackpot-winning retailer.
Is Edwin Castro rebuilding homes in Altadena?
Reporting from October 2025 onward says he spent roughly $10 million on about 15 lots burned in the Eaton Fire and plans single-family homes for long-term residents. The Los Angeles Times reported two homes under construction as of May 2026, with permits still pending on the rest.
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Content last reviewed August 2026. If you notice outdated information, please contact us.
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