Lotto!

August 15th, 2026| Topic: Uncategorized | 0

Seconds can cost you money. In this case, seven seconds cost Joel Ifergan $13.5 million Canadian (about $9.5 million US).

Scooping millions on the lottery would be a life-changing event for most people. Ifergan, likewise, expected that to be the case. But, alas, the guy never saw a penny of the payout.

One night several years ago, he went into a convenience store in Quebec, Canada, shortly before the 9:00 pm deadline, to buy tickets that evening’s Lotto Super 7 draw. The store worker told him to hurry to beat the deadline, and Ifergan assumed he had been successful in purchasing two tickets for the draw: the clock on the lottery terminal read 8:59 pm.

Unfortunately for the hopeful guy, only one of the tickets was registered in time, 8:59:47 pm, making it eligible for that night’s jackpot. The second ticket didn’t finish processing and printing until 9:00:07 pm—seven seconds after the deadline, making it eligible only for the following week’s draw. The central server strictly stops accepting entries for that night’s draw at 9:00:00 pm sharp, and it is the central server’s timestamp that counts, not when the store clerk hits “Buy.” And as “luck” would have it (in this case bad “luck”) the second ticket was the one that would have been entitled to a share of the huge CA$27 million jackpot that week. And so, the entire amount was claimed by another winner.

Rather than merely rue his bad luck, Joel went down the hole of a legal route to try and resolve the matter.

My battle with Loto-Quebec was a question of fairness.”

What followed was a seven-year legal battle through the Canadian court system. The Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled against him. So our man persisted and went to the Supreme Court of Canada. It, too, eventually rejected his appeal.

Joel Ifergan lost the lottery, the price of the tickets, and also CA$100,000 in his eventually fruitless legal case.

Yes, it cost me a lot of money, but it also consumed me for seven years. My crusade is up, I’ve done all I can, I spent enough money going to the Supreme Court. But I’m really disappointed in the decision: a transaction initiated before 9:00 pm should be honored.”

Loto-Quebec spokesman, Jean-Pierre Roy:

I am satisfied with the Supreme Court’s decision. The judgement was clear and convincing that Loto-Quebec procedures were altogether reliable and integrated and were the right ones.”

Probably.

But the only one with the right time is the Creator of time, who “holds” time!

But I—in You I trust, Yahweh; I said, “You [are] my God.”
In Your hand are my times;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my pursuers.
Make Your face to shine upon Your servant;
deliver me in Your lovingkindness.
Psalm 31:14–16

Because …

Yahweh is a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble;
And those who know Your name trust in You,
for You have not abandoned those who seek You, Yahweh.
Psalm 9:9–10

Indeed …

… the deliverance of the righteous is from Yahweh,
their stronghold in time of distress.
Yahweh helps them and saves them;
He saves them from the wicked and delivers them,
for they take refuge in Him.
Psalm 37:39–40

So …

Trust in Him at all times, people; pour out your heart before His face;
God [is] a refuge for us.
Psalm 62:8

And …

I will bless Yahweh at all times;
continually His praise [will be] in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1

SOURCES (of ideas, numbers, and words): National Post