Jackpot! follows Katie Kim, who finds herself being hunted by various people after she accidentally signs up for a lottery. Fortunately, she receives help from an amateur protection agent. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The film’s events unfold in a future where a lottery system, the California Grand Lottery, was established during the Great Depression of 2026.
According to its rules, anyone who kills the lottery winner without using guns is entitled to the prize money, but the winner must be killed before sundown on the day they are announced.
Killing the winner after sundown is illegal and results in a murder charge. If the winner survives until sundown, they receive their winnings.
In 2030, Katie Kim comes to Los Angeles to pursue acting. She used to be a child actor but has not acted in a while because she spent the last few years caring for her sick mother, who has recently passed away.
On the day of her audition, sewage water leaking from her roof ruins all of Katie’s clothes, so she borrows clothes from her Airbnb host, Shadi.
Shadi had bought a lottery ticket and left it in the borrowed clothes. By putting her thumbprint on the ticket, Katie unknowingly registers for the lottery.
Katie, who does not know anything about the lottery system, ends up winning the lottery, making it legal for anyone to kill her before sundown for the $3.6 billion prize.
Suddenly, everyone around her becomes a threat, except for Noel, an amateur lottery protection agent who promises to protect her for ten percent of her winnings.
Noel explains the lottery system to Katie and tells her that the only way to quit is to leave the city. Katie wants to quit, and Noel is willing to help her, much to her surprise.
Katie is suspicious of Noel, knowing that killing her would be more profitable for him than helping her quit and making no money. As a result, Katie runs away from Noel.
She then encounters Shadi and her boyfriend, DJ, who try to kill her. After Katie narrowly escapes, Noel comes to her aid once again.
Katie takes him to the house of a celebrity, Machine Gun Kelly, knowing that the house has a panic room. The two of them manage to lock themselves in after knocking out Machine Gun Kelly.
However, Katie still does not trust Noel, partly due to her father abandoning her and her mother after taking all the money Katie earned as a child actor.
To gain her trust, Noel opens up about his own life. He reassures her that he does not have an ulterior motive and genuinely wants to help her escape the city.
Katie finally realizes that Noel is a good person who truly cares about saving lives. She decides to take his help, as they are still in danger.
A drone is following Katie, broadcasting her location to the whole city and drawing a crowd, including Shadi and DJ, outside the panic room.
Shadi eventually gets the panic room code from Machine Gun Kelly. Noel is then forced to call his ex-colleague, Louis, for help.
Louis and Noel used to be mercenaries, but Noel quit after discovering that they were being ordered to kill innocent people.
Due to Noel’s decision to quit, their team was killed during their next mission, leaving only Louis as the survivor. Louis has hated Noel ever since.
Louis now owns a protection agency for lottery winners. His agency is far better equipped to protect the winner than Noel.
Louis’ bodyguards save Katie and Noel and take them to the agency’s impenetrable bunker. Louis already has a plan to keep Katie safe.
Most lottery winners get killed within minutes of winning, but Katie has miraculously survived for hours. With just four more hours to go, she stands to win billions.
Louis convinces Katie to let his agency protect her for a thirty percent commission, and Katie agrees, only when Louis promises that Noel will receive a portion of the commission.
Ending explained:
Louis’ hidden agenda
Louis plans to transfer Katie to an underground fortress after sending out a few decoy vehicles to mislead the attackers waiting outside his agency.
Meanwhile, Katie discovers that Noel spends all the money he earns on the families of his deceased team members and the families of the innocent people he killed.
This revelation deepens her trust in Noel, but she also questions his trust in Louis, which leads Noel to doubt Louis’s intentions.
Noel realizes that the Louis he knew would never have agreed to give him a share of his commission. He also questions Louis’s motives for transferring them from the bunker, which is a safe place.
Noel begins to suspect that Louis has been killing the clients who hire him instead of protecting them, given the expensive equipment and facilities he owns.
Killing his clients would be the only way Louis could have made so much money, which means he likely plans to kill Katie as well.
Katie rescues her new friend
Louis’s agency uses prosthetics to disguise Katie before transferring her to the underground fortress, where they plan to kill her, but Noel foils their plan.
He helps Katie escape, though he is captured by Louis in the process. Due to Katie’s disguise, even the drone loses track of her.
Katie’s ability to escape earns her a fan following; people start rooting for her, unaware that she intends to leave the city and quit the lottery.
Katie comes very close to quitting, but a call from Louis, who threatens to kill Noel, forces her to return. Katie must now go to the theatre to save Noel.
Meanwhile, Louis reveals to Noel that their team did not die in that mission; he killed them himself for the gold they had stolen.
While Louis was never loyal to Noel, Katie proves to be a much better friend. She arrives to rescue Noel and threatens to kill herself if Louis does not let him go.
Although Katie only met Noel a few hours ago, he has become an important friend to her, and she is willing to risk her own life for him.
Louis has no choice but to let Noel go, but as soon as he does, Katie outsmarts him and knocks him out briefly, preventing him from harming her and Noel.
The winners
Katie had live-streamed her confrontation with Louis to ensure that Louis could not take credit for killing her if she took her own life. However, by doing so, she reveals her location to the entire city.
A crowd quickly gathers at the theatre to kill Katie. Noel fights several people to protect her, while Katie overpowers Shadi.
Katie then climbs a ladder to escape the crowd. In his efforts to fend off multiple attackers, Noel fails to stop Louis from following Katie.
When Louis corners Katie at a height, she uses one of his grenades to kill him before jumping off. She is saved from falling to her death by her fans, who have come to cheer for her.
The lottery ends then, and people stop targeting Katie, who now receives the prize. Katie celebrates with Noel, who has been by her side throughout the ordeal.
Katie fully trusts Noel now and decides to give him half of her prize instead of just his agreed-upon share. She also decides not to pursue acting anymore.
Katie and Noel remain friends and use their prize money to start several new businesses and NGOs, including a protection agency that protects its clients for free.
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