Canadian man loses 7-year court battle to claim $15m jackpot

QUEBEC - Canadian man loses seven-year court battle to claim half of $28m jackpot.

A lot can happen in seven seconds. It can make all the difference between winning and losing a few million dollars.

Ask this man from Quebec, Canada. If he had been just seven seconds earlier, Mr Joel Ifergan would be rolling in money now.

Unfortunately, he didn't. So he had to let go of his claim to a share of the C$27 million (S$28 million) he thought he had won in a lottery.

Mr Ifergan fought a seven-year battle and burned through more than C$100,000 to convince the courts that he is entitled to his share of the millions. But every time, the court said "no".

The final straw came on Thursday when the Supreme Court of Canada also said they cannot do anything about those "seven seconds", cbc.ca reported. Time is money, as they say, but it didn't apply to him.

Mr Ifergan bought two Super 7 tickets in May 2008, just before the 9pm cut-off. He said he ordered the tickets at 8.59pm - the convenience store clerk allegedly told him he had one minute to buy his tickets.

The first ticket was printed showing the May 23 date - that night's draw.

But the second ticket, with the winning numbers for that night's C$27m jackpot, was printed after a delay of seven seconds, showing a date for the following week's draw on May 30. The prize was awarded to somebody else.

Mr Ifergan claimed the delay was caused by the computer system, and that he should be given half of the jackpot.

But the Supreme Court turned down his request.

Mr Ifergan told The Globe and Mail: "My crusade is up, I've done all I can, I spent enough money going to the Supreme Court."

So what lesson has he learnt from this incident? "Play more lottery."

This article was first published on Feb 01, 2015.
Get The New Paper for more stories.