SKIP TO MAIN CONTENT

Seconds delay costs Canadian lottery win

A seven-second delay in issuing a lottery ticket has cost a Canadian man his share of a $US27 million prize.

1 min read

Published

Updated


Skip to article content

A Quebec man who bought a lottery ticket seven seconds too late to be declared the winner has lost his Supreme Court of Canada bid to appeal a decision denying him half of the $US27 million ($A34.81 million) prize.

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accept Joel Ifergan's appeal.

Ifergan bought two Super 7 tickets in May 2008, seconds before the 9pm cutoff.

The first ticket was printed showing the May 23 date - that night's draw. The second ticket with the winning numbers for that night's jackpot, was printed a few seconds later with a date for the following week's draw.

Ifergan blamed the delay on Loto-Quebec's central computer system and sued the province's lottery regulator for half of the jackpot because there was another a winning ticket.


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world