How to Win the Lottery ending explained: Lottery scam unravels disastrously

How to Win the Lottery is a Netflix original Mexican thriller comedy drama series released on November 14, 2025. The show was written and directed by Rodrigo Santos and Federico Veiroj. Starring Alberto Guerra as Jose Luis Conejera, Ana Brenda Contreras as Lina, Christian Tappan as Charly, Andrés Almeida as Mario, Luis Alberti as Gilberto, and Paloma Petra as Katy, this six-episode Netflix series runs for 36-49 minutes per episode.

Inspired by actual events in Mexico in 2012, How to Win the Lottery tells the story of an ordinary civil servant who makes a team of desperate underdogs to pull off an audacious heist aimed at fraudulently winning the Melate lottery jackpot during a live televised draw.

According to the show's ending, a group of friends cheats the lottery and wins $160 million. However, their secret plan falls apart when one breaks the rules. As the truth comes out, lives change forever, and one brave auditor risks everything to expose the fraud.

More plot stories on How to Win the Lottery are given below.

Who breaks the pact and triggers chaos?

Following the orchestration of a $160 million lottery fraud, Jose Luis instructs his four friends to remain business as usual and hold off on collecting their prize money to avoid auditor Katy's suspicion. During episodes 3 and 4 of How to Win the Lottery, viewers witnessed that the plan starts to fall apart when Lina discovers her ex-husband intends to take their son out of Mexico. In desperation, she enlists the help of her half-sister Sara to collect her ticket early, then uses the money to buy phony passports and flee Mexico with her kid.

When Jose Luis discovers and becomes alarmed, Mario and Gilberto send their cousin Tito to retrieve their shares, and Charly turns to Pastor Jacobo. Jose Luis's partner, Laur, who is left behind, takes his share out of Zacatecas, where cheaper taxes and delayed processing could avoid Katy's immediate attention.

Who exposes fraud despite resistance?

In episode 5 of How to Win the Lottery, Katy becomes suspicious when she finds discrepancies in the withdrawal records from Zacatecas. She discovers that all four winning tickets were purchased in a store near the Pronósticos lottery headquarters in Mexico City, rather than in Zacatecas, indicating that the fraud came from within. The shopkeeper confirms that the buyers asked for specific numbers, not random ones, which further supports the fraud theory.

Katy first suspects her corrupt boss, Tarto, who was leaving his post and had visited the recording studio on the day of the draw. But during a confrontation, she notices a photo of Laura with Jose Luis, revealing Laura’s true connection. Despite being horrified that her morally upright co-worker might be responsible for the fraud, Katy decides to act. When authorities refuse to intervene, she leaks the scandal, along with damning video evidence, to the media.

The final consequences

At the end of How to Win the Lottery, viewers saw that media exposure inspires police action, and those who withdrew the fraudulent lottery winnings are arrested. Tito is jailed, Mario and Gilberto are arrested, and Charly is located through his church. Jose Luis attempts to flee on his daughter’s racing kart, gets Laura away, and is caught. Lina flees alone to Guatemala with her son and Sara with false passports. The courts pronounce it all a minor fraud, fining Mario and Gilberto two weeks in jail, Charly only days.

Jose Luis goes in and out of jail six times, claiming to be the innocent victim. Accounts are frozen, but most of the money disappears. Jose Luis dies while the appeal is still on, Laura goes into hiding, and Karen abandons racing. Tarto is jailed, Jacobo begins to preach inside the prison, and Katy survives the investigation. Melate sales drop 25%.

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