INQUIRER.net PHOTO
OTTAWA, Ontario — 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 $27-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 9 p.m. 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-Québec’s central computer system and sued the province’s lottery regulator for half of the jackpot because there was another a winning ticket.