In the small town of Evart, Michigan, Jerry wakes up before dawn to go to work like he's done for
the last forty-two years. He's incredibly good at mental math and seeing patterns, and he's been the
best line manager at the corn flakes factory the company has ever had. However, his line is coming
to a close, so his bosses tell him is time for him to finally retire. Later that day, Jerry has
a retirement party with all his loved ones: his wife Marge, his son Doug, his granddaughter Liz,
and his daughter Dawn. They even bring him a fishing gift as a retirement gift, but Jerry's
mood doesn't improve: he feels lost without having something to do. A month later, Jerry still hasn't
used the boat. Today he visits his accountant Steve, who informs Jerry that his account has only
seen a growth of two percent, which is nothing. But Jerry refuses to put more into stocks because
the risk is pretty much like gambling. At Steve's insistence, Jerry takes out the boat to the lake,
but his hesitance causes him to make mistakes and the boat's motor ends up broken.
Frustrated with himself, he leaves for his favorite store and hears the clerk explain
how the "roll down" works for the lottery. When the jackpot hits two million and nobody gets
six numbers, the whole jackpot rolls down to the people that got three or four - it basically means
better odds. With this sill fresh in mind, Jerry finds a fly explaining the whole lottery system
and makes some calculations that allow him to find a loophole. Buying only one ticket only gives you
minimum odds, but during roll-down week, you can earn more than what the ticket costs, meaning it's
just a matter of buying enough tickets to make it profitable. With a plan in mind, Jerry goes
to the bank to withdraw two thousand dollars. The next day, Jerry spends all the money on tickets
without telling Marge about it. Once the winning numbers are announced, Jerry does the math and is
disappointed to discover he's lost a little over three hundred dollars. His mood tanks, and after
a failed game night with friends, Marge checks on him, but Jerry only tells her he's missed his
chance in life. Marge disagrees, pointing out that good luck happens the same as bad. This simple
phrase makes Jerry realize that his sample size had been wrong. The next time he goes to the bank,
Jerry withdraws eight thousand dollars and spends it all on tickets again. Sometime later, the
lottery announces its winning numbers, and Jerry makes a little over fifteen thousand dollars.
After getting paid, he hides all this cash in an old popcorn can in the pantry. A few days later,
Jerry and Marge throw a little barbecue party for family and friends. Jerry finds Liz with the can
of popcorn, so he has to convince her to let him borrow it for a second in order to move the money
into a cereal box. After the party is over, Marge wants to ask Jerry about the pantry, and he panics
thinking she's found the money. He confesses he's been playing the lottery and winning, but he
didn't tell her because he was ashamed of risking their retirement money. Marge doesn't care though:
they need to have fun, and this is the perfect project. Jerry and Marge decide to continue to
play the lottery together, but when they go to the local store, they find the machine is gone. The
clerk recommends one in Massachusetts, which would be quite a drive. Jerry asks Steve for his advice,
and he confirms that driving to Massachusetts could be part of the investment and there would
be no loss. He also wants to be part of it, so he adds one thousand dollars of his own.
Driving all those hours makes for a wonderful time together for the couple. When they make it
to the liquor store, they meet the clerk Bill, who explains getting sixteen thousand dollars worth
of tickets would take all day and he can't ignore the rest of the store just for them. Fortunately,
they reach a deal and Bill allows them to stay if Marge works the machine herself. When night falls,
they get a room at a motel and watch the lottery on tv. Then they spend the night checking the
thousands of tickets, and by morning, Jerry has their winnings: they've made twenty-one thousand
dollars. Meanwhile in Harvard University, student Tyler is doing a research project
on the odds of winning different types of lottery. His roommate Eric thinks it's stupid,
but looking at the systems allows Tyler to find the same trick Jerry did. Back to the couple,
they're arriving back in town when Marge has an idea. Jerry has always wanted to help people,
and the more they bet the better the odds, so they could make their project even bigger. The next
day, they go to see Steve to start a corporation, legally paying taxes and claiming expenses. They
want to bring in the whole town and sell shares, that way they'll have more capital to invest and
split the profits. Steve likes the idea and gets more shares of his own in the company
that they shall call GS Investment Strategies. Afterward, Jerry gets together with people in
town to explain the idea, and everyone accepts to join. Dawn is quick to buy her own share too,
but Doug isn't interested. Math isn't his thing and he's tired of Jerry pushing the subject,
even when he was a little kid they spent a lot of time counting coins because Jerry thought it was
fun. For once, he wishes he could have fun with his father the normal way, like throwing a ball.
The next time they go to Massachusetts, Jerry and Marge bet forty thousand dollars. Bill doesn't
mind them using the machine this much, but there's no way they can finish before closing time and he
can't have customers inside that late. Jerry invites Bill to join the company, and now that
he and Marge are technically partners, they can stay in the store for as long as they want. By the
end of the night, Bill brings two of his friends as shareholders. When they return to the motel,
Marge puts some of her own nice sheets on the bed, and they leave the counting for the next
day so they can spend the night together like they haven't done in a long time. Meanwhile in Boston,
journalist Maya is asked to write an article about the lottery because those always attract
clicks. The next morning, Bill comes to the motel room with the tally of the winnings sold
by the store. They've made eighty-two thousand dollars, therefore doubling their investment.
Their business just keeps growing from there, and Jerry and Marge don't get tired of their ten-hour
trips because they enjoy their time together. Back in Harvard, Tyler shows Eric the results of
the simulations he's been running, confirming the loophole is real. Tyler doesn't have the money to
get started and refuses to ask his dad because he wants this to be his own thing. Instead,
he pitches his idea to every student in the dorms, and with each of them putting in a couple of bucks
they can reach the initial investment needed. Filling the lottery slips is a lot of work though,
and Tyler lets the others do it, refusing to help because he's in charge. In Michigan,
all the shareholders are pitching in to renovate the amphitheater and bring back the jazz festival.
When Doug goes to visit Jerry, he's shocked to see he's keeping all the tickets just in case the IRS
asks for them when they get audited. Jerry has a surprise for his son: there's one share under
Doug's name, because Jerry wouldn't want to count coins without him. In the evening, the townspeople
get together in the local bookstore, which got renovated thanks to the lottery winnings as it
happened to the hotel and the mailman's truck. Jerry shares with everyone how well they're doing,
informing them that a big part of the money will go to more betting. Afterward, they all leave to
celebrate at the diner. Jerry and Marge tell Steve they want to bet six hundred thousand dollars, the
only problem is how long it would take to get that many tickets from the machine.
Steve thinks they should stick to their normal bets, but they refuse: they need to get as much
money as possible before someone at the lottery company discovers their trick. Bill tries to get a
second machine for his store, but rules say only one per shop is allowed, so they bring another
store owner as a shareholder and install a machine in his diner. In Boston, Maya is looking at the
public list of winners. She notices Jerry wins big every three weeks and drives ten hours just to
play the lottery in a different state, yet he has no criminal record. This smells like a big story,
so her boss gives her the green light to look into it. Back in Havard, Tyler informs all the students
that they've made fifty thousand dollars. Everyone is happy but only for a short moment, because soon
they need to start filling double the slips to make it in time. Eric notices the payout should've
been bigger so he hacks the state lottery system to check the sales at every store, discovering
there's another group doing the same thing. Later that night, Jerry surprises Marge at Bill's store,
asking her to take a break to celebrate their forty-sixth anniversary. They toast with champagne
and dance to slow songs on the radio, only to be interrupted by Tyler and Eric, who laugh when
they see they're two old people. Eric doesn't want their groups to hurt each other's winnings, so he
asks Jerry to bring his group into Eric's and let him do all the betting. But Jerry turns him down,
explaining he doesn't want to sit down and relax, he actually enjoys having a project and sharing
it with his wife. Before leaving, Tyler tries to insult him by saying a farmer's math can't
beat a Harvard student that works with binomial distribution. Jerry already knows this system
and points out his flaws before explaining Tyler is only gaining thirty-two dollars for every one
hundred thousand he wins. Eric can't believe what he's hearing, and Tyler drags him away in shame.
Maya goes to the lottery headquarters to try to get an interview with one of the executives.
However, the man's aware of this guy that keeps winning and doesn't see the big deal because
sometimes people get lucky, so Maya doesn't get anything juicy to publish. One morning,
Jerry's approached by Tyler again. Unaware that the clerk can hear him, Tyler makes a threat:
Jerry must give up the game or they will hack into all his personal accounts and identity to bring
him down. In the evening, during the new library meeting, he tells the townspeople they can't play
anymore, although he blames a new variable that he doesn't expand on. The store clerk tells Doug
what really happened, so Doug talks to his dad to remind him this isn't about math, it's about being
human. Jerry spent too many years in the factory being pushed around, but now, his talents are
being respected by the townspeople that he brought together. When the roll-down weekend comes, Tyler
gets all the students ready to bet. Jerry still wants to do the right thing, but Marge scolds him,
reminding him this is the time to be fun and crazy. This convinces him to get back in the game,
and the couple drives to Massachusetts to reunite with Bill and his machine. At Havard,
Eric and Tyler notice Jerry called their bluff and is still active, so Tyler comes up with a plan:
they need to create a roll-down when nobody expects it, that way they can take it all.
Using their hacking skills, they can learn when the jackpot hits one million and they can bet that
same amount in one day. To get this money, Tyler makes a deal with his father's rich friends. The
plan works and the students force the roll-down. Bill finds Jerry and Marge to tell them the news,
and Jerry easily guesses the student group did it with their hacking. Furious, Jerry drives all the
way to Havard to talk to them. When he gets there, he's already calmed down and instead of fighting,
he gives them a heartfelt speech. Tyler may be winning big time, but he's also using the
other students as employees. Meanwhile, after decades of only feeling connected to math,
Jerry finally feels part of a community that trusts him, and for him, that's way more valuable
than money. Jerry goes back home and discusses options with the others. Bill and Steve want to
trigger their own roll-down, but Jerry doesn't think that would be fair to other players. Steve
can't believe that the lottery is doing nothing about the students, making Jerry realize that
if the lottery is doing nothing it's because they don't care. Marge and Jerry travel to the lottery
headquarters to have a talk with the executives. He points out the company knew about the loophole,
and they didn't do anything because it was pushing their profits through the roof. Jerry
promises to keep his mouth shut if the lottery offers transparency by posting the size of the
jackpot on their website, that way everyone gets a fair chance; Marge also requests a second machine
for Bill's store. The executives accept, and now Jerry and Marge can work side by side at Bill's.
Tyler discovers the change on the website and gets ready to start a war on Jerry, but during the next
group meeting, only Eric is there. Nobody wants to do this anymore because it makes them feel like
bastards, so Tyler decides to work alone. Maya is still looking at the public winner records
and discovers Tyler wins every three weeks as well. Weeks pass, and Jerry surprises Doug with
a football to finally play with him like he should've done during his childhood. Maya
interrupts their little get-together to ask for an interview, and Jerry gladly tells her everything.
The story of how Jerry helped the entire town is inspiring but not clickbaity enough,
and her boss demands something juicier. The next time they go to Bill's, Jerry and Marge discover
the lottery suspended their license and took away the machines. This was caused by Maya's article,
which used Tyler's hacking as the star of the story to make it look like fraud.
Tyler's dad also sees the article and takes his son out of Harvard as punishment. The next day,
Steve comes by to drag the couple into their last shareholder meeting. Instead
of the library though, they go to jazzfest, which has finally been paid for. It turns out
they didn't miss the last roll-down: Doug, Bill, and the townspeople travel all around the state,
each of them using a machine at a different store to make it in time. Jerry declares them
to be a big family and stays to have a dance with his wife to celebrate. The betting group
gets dissolved after the game phases out. Jerry and Marge use most of their winnings
to start a construction loan business in town, and like most of their neighbors,
they put their children and grandchildren through school. By the end, the group has made a total of
twenty-seven million dollars, shocking his old factory bosses when they hear about it.