Why a Lottery Ticket Winner Is Buying Lots In His Hometown

For the residents of Altadena, California, the beginning of 2025 began with fire, when the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires started burning between January 7, and January 9. Those fires joined a series of smaller fires to burn more than 16,000 buildings across southern California—9,414 of which were in Altadena. Months later, a “second wave of disaster” has hit the area, according to the Wall Street Journal, as investors look to profit off the scorched land.

But one investor is not like the others.

Edwin Castro, 33, who won $2 billion in 2023 after buying a winning Powerball lottery ticket in a local gas station, is hoping to bring the streets of his hometown of Altadena back to its pre-fire state, and he says he wants to make sure families are prioritized in the rebuild.

“I want it to feel like the old neighborhood,” Castro told WSJ. “Like if you put all those houses pre-fire in a time bubble.” 

With over 9,000 structures gone in Altadena due to the fires, and many residents living in temporary housing waiting to rebuild, Altadena is primed for new developments.

As a real estate development novice, Castro has hired a team of experts, from a design consultant to craft designs and deal with permits, to a community outreach team to connect with local nonprofits and earn the resident’s trust. To date, Castro has spent $10 million for 15 lots of land—and while many investors are pitching multifamily homes— he is proposing single-family units that resemble the area’s architectural vernacular.

According to the Journal‘s report, Castro predicts the massive real estate development project—which includes three-bedroom homes in the small lots, and flashier offerings for the larger pieces of land—will take around 10 years to complete. And while Castro isn’t planning on overcapitalizing on the situation, although he still looks at it as a business opportunity, WSJ revealed.

“The profit margin doesn’t need to be egregious,” he said. “But I’m not building these homes just to give them away.”

Prior to his rebuilding initiative, Castro remained out of the spotlight, using his winning on various investments, including vintage Porsches and multimillion dollar homes, two of which also burned down earlier this year.

And while many residents are praising Castro’s efforts, with one telling WSJ that he felt “better about him than anybody else because he’s from the area,” many are skeptical of Castro’s intentions and long-term effects on diversity.

“The fear is that Black homeownership will drop,” one resident told WSJ.

According to the Journal, Castro says he plans to sell to only those looking to settle down in his hometown, not others looking to buy the developments are rentals or investments. Additionally, he says he is done buying lots, only planning to finish the 15 lots.

“This is for a family that wants to move in,” Castro told WSJ. “Those are the people that need to be looked out for right now.”