The California Lottery Tuesday revealed the winner of the $2.04 billion record-breaking Powerball jackpot. Edwin Castro purchased the winning ticket on Nov. 7, 2022 at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California — drawing a ticket with all six correct numbers: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and the Powerball number 10.
Castro’s $2.04 billion winning is the largest in U.S. lottery history. Only four previous jackpots have exceeded $1 billion. This is also the first time that California has paid out a lottery jackpot to a single individual for more than $1 billion.
Castro beat the odds of 1 in 292.2 million for getting all of the lottery numbers right, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association.
“As much as I am shocked and ecstatic to have won the Powerball drawing, the real winner is the California public school system,” Castro said in a statement, KTLA Los Angeles reports.
“The mission of the California lottery, which is to provide supplemental funding for California public education, both public schools and colleges, makes this a huge win for the state,” Castro continued.
California schools will receive $156.3 million from Castro’s winnings and all of the lottery rolls leading up it it. Joe’s Service Center gets $1 million for selling the winning ticket.