LOS ANGELES (Gray News) – A historic Powerball winner has reportedly lost at least one of his multimillion-dollar homes in the recent Los Angeles-area wildfires just a few years after purchasing the properties with his winnings.
Edwin Castro won a record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in November 2022.
According to multiple outlets, Castro used his nearly billion-dollar winnings after taxes to purchase homes in Malibu, Altadena and the hills of Hollywood.
However, according to the Los Angeles Times, his $3.85 million mansion in Malibu, which was purchased in 2023, was among the thousands of structures destroyed in the Palisades Fire last week.
Castro requested to stay out of the spotlight when coming forward to claim his winnings in February 2023 after purchasing the winning ticket from a gas station in Altadena.
The lottery winner declined an invitation from state officials to speak to reporters at that time but sent a written statement saying he was “shocked and ecstatic” to have won.
The New York Post reports that the 31-year-old’s real estate portfolio totals about $76 million.
The wildfires continue to burn in Southern California with firefighters reporting they have a least some containment on the blazes.
Copyright 2025 Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.