13.5 Million Dollar lottery ticket purchased seven seconds too late.

Quebec man who says he got winning ticket seven seconds late sues Loto

[lgn1]

This would be enough to drive anybody over the edge.

[cbc.ca ]

[Dabrowski]

I bet he's a victim of the green revolution.

If he'd driven to the store instead of catching the bus, he'd be laughing!

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

He has my sympathy but you cannot really argue with this. It was not the fault of the lottery people.

[StoutFiles]

I feel bad for anyone rushing to buy lottery tickets before the deadline. How depressing.

That said, he won't win. Rules are rules. I wonder if he can even afford the court costs.

[Stefan]

The latest news is that he might have a case because he purchased the ticket before the deadline - the digital delay in registering it pushed it past the cutoff time. The time is set when they ring up the bill, not when it reaches lotto hq.

[Dabrowski]

But surely the ticket has nor been 'purchased' until the transaction is complete. Not the time he walked up to the counter, or filled the ticket in.

Why couldn't he have bought it earlier?

I expect, given the amount of money involved, some solicitor may take the case based on a no win no fee basis as long as he thinks he can win.

[grandpa]

Lottery officials, much like the Grim Reaper, deal with absolutes and when your time is up, it's up. Seven seconds or seven days makes no difference. In the game of life and the game of lotto there are rules and no amount of adjudication can (or should) alter those simple facts.

His (alleged) winning ticket was clearly marked for the following weeks game. This fellow needs to take his lesson learned (expensive though it may be) and move on. I hope I don't get stuck behind him at the Pearly Gates, waiting to be let in while this joker is arguing for just a little more time.

[lgn1]

I agree, the second ticket had the next weeks draw date, so he is out of luck.

If the second ticket had the winning draw date, but was 7 seconds to late coming out of the machine, he would win hands down in court, as it would have been a printing or queue delay.

[londrum]

let's hope he hasn't already spent the money. he probably went out and bought a porsche next morning

[greenleaves]

But the question remains, if he had lost, would they have refunded the money? Rules or no rules, this oppens a loop hole to screw people over using similar techniques.

[StoutFiles]

if he had lost, would they have refunded the money?

Um, what? He'll be playing his "winning" numbers the next week. He didn't win any money because the ticket is for next week. There are no loop holes in this, he waited till the last second and got a ticket for next week.

He never got any money because he didn't win any money.

[webjourneyman]

This is why there should be timeout at the time of the draw. No tickets sold for x many hours, this is usually the rule.

[Anyango]

It doesn't make much sense to me, i am with the Guy who bought the Ticket. See if that ticket wasen't quailified to enter this time's draw then why did the system even include it in the pool to select winner from ? how on earth it could win if it was not eligible to win ?

If he was late his number shouldn't ve been included in the Pool, and if it was included then he should be rewarded the prize, unless there is some technical thing int it that i don't know of ?

[ofnimira]

If his number hadn't come up in the draw he wanted to enter, but had in the next week's draw that he was entered into, would he have refused to take the money?

[thecoalman]

Not sure if they still do it but where I live they'd shut the machines down about 5-10 minutes before the drawing. No tickets could be sold in that time frame. They'd open them back up for the next drawing once the drawing was complete.

[Stefan]

That sounds sesnsible, thecoalman. I believe this guy's gripe is that they took his money before the cut off. In his opinion (and also mine), that makes it a final sale. Stopping sales 15 minutes before the deadline would take care of similar disputes.

I seldom buy lotto tickets, so no personal interest. Occasionally a lotto649 for 2$ (Ontario) when the prize is in the tens of millions. The odds are fourteen million to one against, eh? It's all pretty pointless.

[piatkow]

In the UK the money is handed over in return for the printed ticket which you can check and cancel if there is a mistake. There is no opportunity for money to be taken before the cut off and the ticket printed afterwards.

[D_Blackwell]

I 'invest' in the US Powerball lottery. One set of numbers, the same set of numbers, for years. I have lost 104 times per year for quite a few years. I am sure to win soon and think that I will buy WebmasterWorld for a tech toy:))

[jeyKay]

See if that ticket wasen't quailified to enter this time's draw then why did the system even include it in the pool to select winner from ? how on earth it could win if it was not eligible to win ?

The way it works in Quebec is that you pick your numbers, listen on radio/tv for the draws and then if you win, it is the ticket holders job to claim it in. They don't draw your ticket out of a pool.

[edited by: jeyKay at 4:40 pm (utc) on Oct. 17, 2008]

[Demaestro]

If it was purchased late then the system should not have accepted the sale.

The fact is that those machines refuse to sell tickets past the cutoff. They took his money and issued the ticket.

The lotto should have to explain how the machine allowed someone to pay for an entry into the lotto that was not qualifying.

If they are going to issue tickets but not honor them based on time of purchase then sounds like they have a lot of refunding to do, there is no way they are allowed to accept money from someone if that money doesn't buy them an entry into the lotto.

Sounds like a completed transaction to me.

[edited by: Demaestro at 6:27 pm (utc) on Oct. 17, 2008]