Joel Ifergan entered at a convenience store in Montreal this past May, looking to strike it rich in a $27-million Super 7 jackpot. It turns out seven was far from his lucky number. Store owner Mehernosh Iranpor told Ifergan he didn’t have much time left to purchase tickets for that night’s draw. “He just walked in and he asked me how much time is left,” said Iranpor. “So I told him there’s about one minute to go sir. He says, ‘Give me two tickets plus one extra.'”
But one of the tickets popped out of the machine at seven seconds past 9 p.m. — that’s seven seconds after Loto-Quebec’s deadline. “I asked him, ‘You want to cancel it?’ (and) he said, ‘No, I’m going to keep it,'” Iranpor said. “The next morning he came back with a long face. I said, ‘What happened?’ (and) he said, ‘I got all of the seven numbers.'”
Ifergan told CTV Montreal his reaction was mixed: first excitement, then frustration. “It felt great for about 10 seconds, then I realized the date and now I feel very, very frustrated by the system,” he said. “When we met with a Loto-Quebec lawyer and two of their technicians at the depanneur, they told us there was a 10 to 12 second delay in transmission time.” That being the case, Ifergan believes Loto-Quebec owes him $13.5-million. “My purchase and request for the tickets was done, if we calculate it backwards, approximately 8:59:43,” he said. “Due to transmission delays it was processed at 9:00:07.”
I say they owe him the money. Especially since lottery retailers have been caught selling tickets well after the draw. What do you think?
If they can find the logs from the machine stating that the request was made on time he should have a case.
Look at the fine print though, as it may say they must recieve things by a set time from the computers dealing the tickets.
I think he should have a case for something. Time for the lawyers!
He would have to sue the retailer. The maximum he could sue for would be for the cost of the ticket, not for the jackpot.
If nothing else, this guy should make the talk show circuit and tell his story and make a few bucks. If there was a winner that night, maybe they would have sympathy and slip him and few bills. I know I would if I won.
Hey, isn’t that the naked Brit at Tokyo Palace?
I say give it to him. Given how close it was and that the request was made before the deadline.
$13.5 million is a lot for us, but Loto-Québec can afford it. They make tons of money for the Québec economy and this money will stay in the Province. Do the right thing and leave the lawyers out of it. They make enough money as it is. And, with all the bailout talk in the US, I am sure there is litigation coming on both sides of the border.
Wait! I live in Québec. Maybe I know him! …no… crap! 😉
The best thing about all this is that he is not acting as if he is entitled to the money. He knows he went in late and took a risk. For his good faith, I say Loto-Québec should show some of their part. About $13.5 million worth…
#4. You’d go bonkers too if you lost $27M.
I imagine it varies with state/province/country but I seem to remember that lotto machines used to be locked out once it was time for numbers to be drawn and it would be something like 30 minutes to an hour after the draw before tickets could be sold again. the last time i bout a lottery ticket had to have been 10+ years ago when i turned 18.
#7 how can you lose something you never had?
This guy has a case.
I dont know how the lottery system works but I go with what John said, this guy deserves his money now.
If the ticket is no good, the lottery machine shouldn’t have printed it.
#10. Why? They just pocket the money, there is no way you can win, if you purchase the ticket after the drawing. This was happening in Virginia, I believe.
Loser.
This is one reason I don’t buy tickets.
Exactly…he either won, or it’s fraud. You can’t SELL a ticket to a lottery that isn’t valid anymore. If the machine printed it and they charged him a $l for the ticket, then it’s valid…or else someone is illegally selling tickets for NOTHING.
I agree. If they sold him the ticket, the ticket is legally binding. If he lost they would not be rushing to reimburse him.
Loto’s pushing it on the fact that the ticket printed at a few seconds after nine had the date changed to the next week – but the seller wasn’t able to tell him until after the ticket printed that it was for the next draw.
I totally think he should get the money. He purchased the tickets before the deadline, and the others that he bought at the same time were for the correct draw. All they would need to do is shut the terminals down for 10 minutes after the cut-off happens, and they cover their butts.
If nothing else, Loto should know better than to piss off Quebecers. If they don’t do the right thing, a large chunk of their customers might stop playing. Or riot. :0)
they have time cut offs for a reason – tell the frog to buy his ticket on time next time.
This is why the terminals should lock out at the deadline and start up again after the draw. That is how it used to be. I suspect the lotteries abandoned this practise because they were losing sales in this ‘in between’ period.
Because communication delays are unpredictable, the lottery should honour the ticket based on it being purchased BEFORE the cut-off time.
However, the other side of the coin states that the purchaser did agree to the purchase for the following week’s draw.
Legally, the ticket holder has no recourse. Morally, the Lottery should honor the ticket. However, this might create a messy precedence for both future and past lotteries.
I predict the lottery will say ‘nay’ to this ‘un’lucky ticket holder.
There is still a ‘cash cow’ here for this guy! There is the talk show circuit and then he could always frame this ticket and auction it off for a couple of thousand dollars! Yes, there are eccentrics who would buy it!
The lottery admits there is a 10-12 second transmission delay. Which means the sale had begun 5 seconds prior to the cut off time. The machine should be set to allow ticket sales 12 seconds after the cut off time to allow for the transmission delay and not allow any sales for 5 minutes afterward. Nobody should lose a lottery jackpot by a few seconds.