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After Spring Valley basketball player Johnny Smith plays a game in Temple City, he goes to the Club Inferno to celebrate his victory.  While gambling there, he discovers that the club uses fixed dice; when he confronts the owner, T. Amato, he is shot by Amato's dimwitted brother Floyd.  Because of his connections with Amato, Tom Cameron, the corrupt political boss of Temple City, is afraid that the scandal will endanger his chances in the upcoming election, so he has Johnny's death declared a suicide.

Lynn Hollister, a Spring Valley lawyer who was a close friend of Johnny, is suspicious of the coroner's verdict and comes to the big city to investigate.  Lynn does not get any help from the insurance adjustor or prosecuting attorney, who tell him to contact Cameron for information.  Lynn goes to the estate, where Cameron, who has already learned of Lynn's snooping around the Club Inferno, awaits his arrival with his henchman, Morris Slade.  Cameron's one weak spot is his daughter Sabra, who is not fully aware of her father's illicit activities.

When Cameron states that Lynn is an unwanted job hunter, Sabra volunteers to get rid of him.  Although she succeeds in getting Lynn to escort her out on the town that evening, Sabra is not able to induce him to leave town.  Soon the pair begin a romance as Lynn decides to stay in Temple City to campaign for Cameron while continuing his investigation.

Meanwhile, Amato is incensed when Cameron refuses to fulfill a promise to put him up for election as councilman because of the trouble at the club.  Cameron instead puts Slade up as his candidate, and Amato vows to cause trouble.

On election day, Amato's hoods battle the men whom Cameron has paid to vote for Slade.  Lynn witnesses the fight and, hoping to get rid of him, Amato and Floyd both shoot at him.  The fracas causes Floyd to shoot Amato, however; as he is dying, Amato wounds Johnny's mother, who had just arrived in town to determine the progress of Lynn's investigation into Johnny's death.

After Cameron's men win the election, Lynn accuses him of fixing the voting and covering up Johnny's murder.  Sabra overhears and breaks off their romance and, in the following weeks, she begins seeing Slade while Lynn looks for evidence of Cameron's wrongdoing.  Lynn finally uncovers an old Civil War statute concerning the protection of a free and honest election, and District Attorney C. R. Pringle agrees to arrest the phony voters paid by Cameron.  As Cameron's machine begins to crumble, Lynn learns from Floyd that Slade ordered that Johnny be shot.  Lynn shoots Slade in self-defense.  Soon after, Cameron turns himself in and is convicted of election fraud.  After Lynn asks the court to be lenient, Cameron is paroled and then accompanies Lynn and Sabra as they go to Spring Valley to begin a new life together.

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Notes
The working titles of this film were Gangs of Kansas City and Citadel of Crime.  The print viewed was entitled Wheel of Fortune, which may be a television re-release title.

According to 1940 HR news items, Ona Munson was originally set to star in the picture and, later, Republic tried to borrow either Patricia Morison or Ellen Drew from Paramount for the lead.  HR also noted that Tom Kilpatrick was signed to work on the screenplay, although the extent of his contribution to the completed picture has not been confirmed.  HR news items include Greta Granstedt, Patricia Knox, Maurice Costello, and Mary Bovard in the cast, but their appearance in the finished film has also not been confirmed.

A January 3, 1941 HR production chart incorrectly lists Robert North as the film's producer.  According to the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the August 9, 1941 version of the script, entitled Gangs of Kansas City, was rejected by the PCA as "unacceptable for the reasons that it contains details of gangster activity and of kidnapping which are contrary to the provisions of the Production Code."  The October 29, 1940 version of the script, entitled Citadel of Crime was approved by the PCA with reservations over portraying any fighting as "an old style 'gangster battle.'"

According to a January 28, 1941 HR news item, the picture's budget was $250,000, and an extra $50,000 was appropriated for advertising based on "the promise shown by the rushes."  The HR reviewer commented on the similarities between the film and "Kansas City's turbulent political history."  The reviewer further added that Frances Dee "creates a spectacular portrait of the unhappy heroine of actual events, a girl now dead."  A Man Betrayed was the first film in which Frances Dee appeared since the 1939 Columbia production Coast Guard.