This US man wins Rs 16700 crore in record jackpot lottery, splurges Rs 204 crore for mansion in Hollywood neighbourhood

It is a bonanza! It is a fortune! It is a windfall! Rather, it is all three summed up into one. It's pennies from heaven for Californian Edwin Castro, who has won a $2.04 billion jackpot, the biggest in history.

Yes, you read it right. It's $2.04 billion, or Rs 16700 crores in terms of Indian currency. That's reads like the value of quite a large industry in an industrial hub in India. 

The winner has opted to collect the money as a lump sum of about $997.6 million before taxes, rather than taking it as an annuity over 29 years. That amount is still around Rs 8,100 crore.  

The Californian man won this lottery in November last year, and his identity was revealed in a press conference in California last month.

Now, he is in the news as early reports of how he is spending his new-found fortune are hitting the headlines.    

The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported this week that the winner has splashed out $25.5 million (204 crore) to purchase a mansion in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California.

The mansion is the most expensive sale in the locality this year. 

Expensive things have their perks. The residence, which has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a movie theatre, and a game room, puts Castro in the same elite neigbourhood as singer Ariana Grande, comedian Jimmy Kimmel, and actor Dakota Johnson, among others. 

What is even more remarkable about Castro's fairytale success is that he purchased the lottery ticket for just $2 in Altadena, California.

This is for people who believe that a Castro-like miracle can happen to them. 

Well, for that level of extraordinary occurrence, the odds are one in 292 million (29.2 crore).

That's one in the entire US and three in India. If you think you can fit into that figure, you are highly optimistic.