A Montrealer's six-year, $100,000 quest to win a $13.5 million judgement against Loto Quebec has been shot down by the land's highest court.
The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed a Montreal man’s claim to a share of a $27-million jackpot from 2008 because his lottery ticket was printed seven seconds after the cut-off time.
Joel Ifergan bought two tickets for the night’s Super 7 draw at 8:59 p.m., about one minute before the 9 p.m. cut-off time. One ticket popped out with the date, May 23. The other came out seven seconds after the draw closed and was dated for a week later.
The latter ticket had the seven winning numbers for the $27-million jackpot draw.
Had he won, Ifergan would have shared the jackpot, which would have filled his pocket with $13.5 million.
The ensuing legal fight bounced all the way up to the Supreme Court, who put an end to his quest for wealth by refusing to hear the case.
Ifergan blames the seven-second delay on a processing lag, and says Loto-Quebec owes him half of the $27 million jackpot, which was awarded to someone else.
“Formation of the contract was made before 9 p.m., and keeping the two tickets proved the fact that the request was made before 9 p.m., it was entered into the system,” Ifergan told CTV News.
Loto-Quebec has refused to pay. In the past, the lottery organization has said that its computers register one ticket at a time and there can be a delay of up to 10 seconds.
Convenience store owner Mehernosh Iranpur sold Ifergan the ticket. He says Ifergan knew right away they were for different draws.
“I asked him, ‘It’s for next week – do you want it or not? Or I’ll cancel it.’ He says, ‘No, I’ll keep it.’”
Ifergan’s attempt to lay claim to $13.5 million in prize money has so far cost the accountant $100,000 in legal fees, but he insists it’s worth the fight.
“I’m right, I know that the contract was formed (before the deadline),” he said.
With files from CTV News’ Vanessa Lee
