A man purchases a lottery ticket as the jackpot approaches 960 million Taiwan dollars, setting off a deadly chain of events involving his wife, two robbers, and the proprietor of the lottery ticket shop. As the suspense builds, and each character’s ulterior motives are revealed, will anyone escape this curse unleashed by human greed?

Most holidays will see large numbers of Taiwanese head to the local lottery ticket shop to try their luck, an act so commonplace it is seen as a form of entertainment. Many shops place a small statue of the God of Fortune on the counter to bring customers a bit of luck. But what happens when the God of Fortune doesn’t have the best intentions? And what kind of misfortune would such a god visit upon customers whose greed knows no bounds?

Although he had sworn to his wife that he would quit gambling, Chen En-Tien can’t resist purchasing another lottery ticket. When his wife hears about it, she loses control and kills her backsliding husband. From there, the unlucky lottery ticket sets off a chain of suspicious deaths. One of the victims is a gangster who had tried to convince Chen En-Tien to join a smuggling operation. Another is the owner of the lottery ticket shop, who had broken a contract in a bid to monopolize the lottery ticket trade. In fact, everyone associated with the shop seems in danger of losing their lives in some ill-fated manner. Only gradually are the deaths linked to the God of Fortune statue that stands watch in the shop, with its unusual black coloration and uncharacteristic bucked teeth. Investigations carried out by Ho Chang-Yuan, a man who specializes in the disposal of religious idols, indicate that the statue was made by the sculptor Liao Tian-Shou. Could Liao be the key to solving the riddle behind the string of deaths? But, when Liao himself turns up dead, what hope is left for ending this legacy of misfortune?

Juggling concepts from Taiwanese religion, local superstition, and the universal theme of greed, Ghost Lotto cuts a bizarre and twisting path into the dark recesses of human nature.