Biggest ever lotto winner announced as 'ecstatic' man bags epic £1.6bn jackpot
An "ecstatic" lottery player has bagged the biggest-ever lotto jackpot as he claims the $2.04billion Powerball prize.
California lottery officials revealed on Tuesday that Edwin Castro won the record-breaking rollover sum, equivalent to around £1.67billion, back in November.
Joe Chahayed, the owner of Joe's Service Center in Altadena near Los Angeles, also got a $1 million (£822,000) bonus for selling him the winning ticket.
The sole winner of the prize, Mr Castro's win comes despite odds of approximately one in 292.2 million.
He declined an invitation from state officials to speak to reporters, and instead sent a written statement saying he was "shocked and ecstatic" to have won the lottery.
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He also said it was "gratifying" that the win would benefit local schools under the competition's donation scheme, and described himself as having been "educated in the California public education system."
The man won the jackpot after it had rolled over 40 times (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Schools in the state of California will receive more than $156 million from ticket sales collected in the lead up to the draw, according to the New York Times.
Few other details are known about Mr Castro, with public records giving his name but no details about his age and where he lives.
California Lottery Deputy Director Carolyn Becker said most people who win big lottery jackpots try to keep a low profile and avoid publicity.
Winners can choose to receive their winnings in over 30 annual payments or as a lump sum - and state officials said Edwin Castro chose to take $997.6 million upfront.
The Powerball jackpot starts at $20 million (£16.4million) and increases each time there is no winner.
Schools in California will receive more than $156 million from ticket sales collected in the lead up to the draw, reports say (Keith Srakocic/AP/REX/Shutterstock)There were more than 40 consecutive draws held before Castro's numbers were called, which were 10, 33, 41, 47 and 56, along with the red Powerball number 10.
State officials now have Castro's winning ticket and are considering putting it on display at the lottery's headquarters, said Ms Becker.
Discussing the contribution the win will make to the state's education system, she commented: "These numbers represent promises kept since voters created the lottery in 1984 with the explicit purpose and intent to raise supplemental funding for public education,"
The California Lottery raised a total of $2 billion for public schools in the most recent fiscal year.
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His win also means that three of the 10 largest lottery jackpots in US history have come from tickets sold in California.
The second-largest jackpot - $1.586 billion in 2016 - matched three tickets sold in California, Florida and Tennessee.
A $699.8 million ticket was also sold in California in 2021.
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