MONTREAL -- A debt of more than half a million dollars, contracted following three games of rock-paper-scissors, is invalid, according to a recent Quebec Court of Appeal ruling.

This gambling debt had even been recognized in a notarized contract and had led to the registration of a mortgage on the house of the loser, Edmund Mark Hooper.

The mortgage was canceled by a judgment rendered by a Quebec Superior Court judge in 2017.

Michel Primeau, the man who won the competition, as well as the sum of $ 517,000, appealed the Superior Court decision.

However, the Court of Appeal, Quebec's top court, confirmed the judgment of the lower court

Primeau had explained in court that the game that led to Hooper's huge debt took place in January 2011.

The winner was to determined after three games of rock-paper-scissors.

This report of by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2020.