Topics: California, Los Angeles, Lottery, Money, News, US News, Wildfires, Property
A man who won a whopping $2 billion Powerball has shared his plans on what he wants to do with his cash.
In 2022, Edwin Castro purchased a lottery ticket for the gas station — something that many Americans do. But little did he know he'd purchased the winning ticket that would see him get a life-changing amount of money.
He claimed his winnings in February 2023 and opted to take a lump sum of $997.6 million.
After taxes, it was expected that Castro would walk away with an impressive $628.5 million.
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Castro wasted no time in spending his money and invested in real estate, cars, and holidays. He even hired security to protect him and his loves ones.
But sadly Castro was one of the thousands of California residents to lose his home in the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.
See the shocking news footage from January here:
According to the Los Angeles Times, 13,000 homes were destroyed in the Eaton and Palisades fires. A new report has found that 75 percent of surveyed Pacific Palisades residents and 67 percent of surveyed Altadena residents are still in temporary housing several months on from the devastating events.
In light of him personally being affected by the fires, Castro is using some of his lottery winnings to rebuild homes in Altadena.
Castro, 33, has spent $10 million dollars buying 15 lots in his hometown. He's one of the many investors to have purchase the scorched areas of land.
But residents are worried that the Altadena they knew and loved will be forever changed by these investors, which has sparked an online petition calling for 'legislation to stop corporate takeover of disaster-affected communities and protect our neighborhoods from displacement'.
While Castro admitted that he's not going to build new properties just to give them away, he's insisted that he wants to sell the homes to families specifically for market value.
"The profit margin doesn’t need to be egregious," he told Wall Street Journal. "But I’m not building these homes just to give them away."
Per the outlet, the 33-year-old wants to sell to 'exclusively to families who want to settle down in Altadena, rather than people who might turn the homes into rentals'.
People are still unsure about his and other investors plans, however, and it has divided people online.
"Yes! Let’s capitalize on other people’s misfortune," one critic said of Castro's plans.
Another said: "Does he know what he's doing? The risk is he builds bad projects or blow his money. Of course us silly Californians are worried he'll make money."
Castro directly responded to this person's concerns, writing: "Haha I get it … it’s a big project. Got some solid folks helping me keep it on track though."
Another person pointed out that Castro is from Atladena.
"Well he grew up here and most agree that better a hometown kid with money than a conglomerate from overseas/out of state," they penned in his defense.
Elsewhere, Castro has insisted that he wants the area to 'feel like the old neighborhood'.
What do you think about the plans?
