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Canadian man loses appeal of $27 million lotto ticket due to 7 second delay

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Kraftwerk

Member
I would fucking kill myself. 7 years and $100k in legal fees.

The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from a Quebec man who tried to claim a $27 million jackpot based on a lottery ticket printed seven seconds after the cut-off time.

On Thursday, Canada's top court said it would not hear Joel Ifergan's lottery case. The SCC dismissed his request for an appeal with costs.

Joel Ifergan purchased two lottery tickets for the May 23, 2008 Super 7 draw at 8:59 p.m., one minute ahead of the weekly draw deadline. His first ticket printed with the May 23 draw date on it, but his second one came out seven seconds after 9:00, with the May 30 draw date printed at the top.

That second ticket had all the winning numbers for the May 23 jackpot, but Loto-Quebec rejected the claim because the ticket said May 30.

“I’m really disappointed in the decision, and it’s not because it’s about the money,” Ifergan told CTV News Channel after his case was dismissed Thursday.

"Loto-Quebec during the trial never argued the fact that my request for the two tickets was in their system at 8:59.47," he told CTV Montreal.

"The deadline that they advertise was for 9 p.m. –- which I did.”


In the rest of Canada, they shut down at 9 p.m. and you can't buy a ticket," he told The Canadian Press. "But everything in their system prior to 9 p.m. gets processed and you get a ticket, even if it comes out five minutes later."

“Had those tickets been bought anywhere else in Canada, I would have been a millionaire seven years ago,” Ifergan said.

The career accountant spent nearly seven years and $100,000 in legal fees fighting for his half of the jackpot.


Source
 

terrisus

Member
Can't he sue the store for selling him something (a lottery ticket at a certain time) that wasn't what they claimed it was?

Not that he would get much for it, but still.
 

Vilam

Maxis Redwood
Wow... Reading the details it sounds like he got genuinely screwed. Why wouldn't the court hear his case?
 

MIMIC

Banned
"Here's your worthless, ineligible ticket, sir. Good luck!"

EDIT: I totally misread/missed this:

"His first ticket printed with the May 23 draw date on it, but his second one came out seven seconds after 9:00, with the May 30 draw date printed at the top."

That changes everything. It literally said on the ticket which draw the ticket would be eligible for. So....not much sympathy from me.
 

Alienous

Member
Nah, fucking bullshit, he started the process and committed to the numbers before the deadline. Give the man his fucking money.
 

Schrade

Member
This seems like complete bullshit on the lottery system's fault.

How accurate are the internal clocks on these systems? Are they synced to Atomic Clocks every minute for accuracy?
 

Matriox

Member
Jesus.. At the very least pay for his legal fees for all of this shit? This riled me up more than I thought it would, give the man his money...
 
That is so damn cruel, how often can someone win then lottery? Just give the guy his money you cheap cunts!

Plus that system seems crazy flawed. Purchase of any lottery tickets should be stopped (locked) between 9:00 - 9:05 pm during draw nights and the system should start next week's numbers at a very clear cut time of 9:05 or 9:06pm rather than 9:00:01 pm
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
The computer should not have allowed the ticket to be purchased or printed - presumably they are all connected back to the lottery HQ? Therefore if their computer system allowed a payment to be taken and a ticket to be printed, it should be honoured.

If they are concerned that a seven second window of opportunity may exist as an exploit, they should thank the man for finding it, and fix their computer systems. And still pay him.
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
What do you expect when you're dealing with a system of gambling? Just like casinos, lottery people will do anything to not have to pay out. Lottery tickets are one of the most upfront scams in the world. Like hell they are going to part with their cash if they can find any loophole not to.
 

dani_dc

Member
If the bet was in their system before the cut off date then this is bullshit.

I suppose the reason why they have "cool down periods" with the lottery around here is to avoid exactly this type of situations.
 

liquidtmd

Banned
I bet you $27 million that if his numbers had won the May 30th lotto they would have said 'the ticket was processed pre-9pm of the the week of that draw, thanks for playing but sorry, fuck you'
 

TheOMan

Tagged as I see fit
That sucks, but the cutoff has to be somewhere. This is what happens when you literally put shit off til the last minute.

But he was in before the cutoff.

What if his number won for May 30th? Would the lotto claim it didn't count because they were in the system for the previous draw? Guess we'll never know.
 
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cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
What do you expect when you're dealing with a system of gambling? Just like casinos, lottery people will do anything to not have to pay out. Lottery tickets are one of the most upfront scams in the world. Like hell they are going to part with their cash if they can find any loophole not to.

This.
 

Blader

Member
That sounds like genuine bullshit. What's the point of timestamping when the tickets are processed if you're just going to ignore it?
 

HeelPower

Member
Its really heartbreaking.

These guys have so much money,make so much profit and the dude won.Yet he won't get a penny out of it.

He is at once ridiculously lucky and unlucky :( :(
 

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
But he was in before the cutoff.

What if his number won for May 30th? Would the lotto claim it didn't count because they were in the system for the previous draw? Guess we'll never know.

The machine printed out that it was a ticket for the May 30th drawing. The machine that prints random or chosen numbers with a timestamp is not in on the conspiracy. If the numbers had won the May 30th drawing he clearly would be a millionaire now.
 

Rich!

Member
What the hell.

I used to run a convinience store here in the UK, and the National Lottery machine worked like this:

- Tickets able to be printed until 7pm on the day of the draw. Draw is at 8pm or so.

- After that cut off time of 7pm you cannot print any more tickets for that particular lottery (euromillions/lotto/Thunderball) until the results are in later that night and the lock is lifted.

Having a system that works in any way other than that seems fucking stupid. Do other countries not have the same security and safeguard measures with their lotteries?
 

CrankyJay

Banned
“I’m really disappointed in the decision, and it’s not because it’s about the money,” Ifergan told CTV News Channel after his case was dismissed Thursday.

Oh fuck off with this, yes it is.
 
i guess the issue here is that both tickets were purchased before the 9:00 cutoff.
the printer/system was slow and didnt give him the ticket until after 9:00.
that is bullshit.
 

Rich!

Member
i'd be pissed. but really, maybe dont buy lottery tickets 1 minute before the cut off.

As I explained above, that wouldn't be an issue here in the UK.

Stunned that the system allowed it in the OP situation. Makes no sense to not have measures to prevent it.
 
Loto-Quebec should seriously shut down sales of tickets after 9 pm every night to avoid this from recurring

he bought the tickets before 9 pm, they didn't print until after 9pm.
shutting down sales before after 9pm would not have fixed this issue

they need to reflect the purchase date on the ticket instead of the print date, that would fix this issue.

the court even agreed that he purchased the tickets before 9pm.
 
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