Lottery officials reveal winner of historic $2B Powerball jackpot who bought ticket in Altadena

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) — California lottery officials on Tuesday relieved the identity of the person who bought a Powerball ticket at an Altadena service station and won a historic $2.04 billion jackpot.

During a press conference, officials identified the lucky winner as Edwin Castro. A city of residence or occupation was not provided. California Lottery Director Alva Johnson said Castro “would largely like to remain private.”

“He understands his name is part of the public record, and now part of history, but he respectfully declined our invitation to appear publicly with us today – understandably so,” Johnson added.

The winning ticket – the only one that matched all six numbers – for the Nov. 7 drawing was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena. For selling the winning ticket, business owner Joe Chahayed received a bonus of $1 million.

Chahayed has this message for Castro: “What good news. I’d like to congratulate this person. He deserves it probably very much.”

The jackpot grew to the staggering amount of $2.04 billion after more than three months without anyone coming up with all the right numbers for the top prize.

Because of that, the state lottery raised a record $156 million for California public schools, Johnson said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.