$13.5M lottery ticket 7 seconds too old

MONTREAL, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A Canadian man is suing the Loto-Quebec corporation over a lottery ticket that took 7 seconds too long to print and lost him $13.5 million.

The suit is over a $27 million Super Seven drawing May 23 that would have been split two ways, The Gazette newspaper in Montreal reported.

Joel Ifergan said that on a whim he went into a convenience store and asked if he still had time to play before the 9 p.m. deadline, he told the Globe and Mail newspaper. The clerk said "It's 8:59," so he paid for two tickets.

The first one printed instantly, but the second one took 7 seconds to print, and showed it an entry for the following week's draw, Ifergan said.

His suit claims Loto-Quebec technicians admitted to a delay of as long as 10 seconds in completing a ticket purchase, particularly when jackpots are high.

Ifergan told the Globe he had paid his money before the deadline.

"I played by their rules -- I purchased a ticket prior to 9 p.m. It's not my fault their technology is slow," he said to the Globe and Mail.