Do Seconds of Delay in Buying a Lottery Ticket Make You a Loser

Would you believe 7 Seconds Cost a Man $27 Million. Yes it is true. Joel Ifergan a Canadian bought two tickets for the night’s Super 7 draw at 8:59 p.m., about one minute before the 9 p.m. cut-off time.

One ticket popped out with the date, May 23. The other came out seven seconds after the draw closed, and was dated for a week later. The latter ticket had the seven winning numbers for the $27-million jackpot draw.

That happened back in 2008. The ensuing legal fight has been winding its way through the court system, and reached the Supreme Court in 2015. After spending years and at least $80,000 on the case, it costs Ifergan lot of money, and the court refused to hear him. The matter was closed.

Ifergan blames the seven-second delay on a processing lag, and says Loto-Quebec owes him half of the $27 million jackpot, which was awarded to someone else. In the past, the lottery organization has said that its computers register one ticket at a time and there can be a delay of up to 10 seconds.

Do Seconds of Delay in Buying a Lottery Ticket Make You a Loser

In the above case of Ifergan what did the court say

• The courts determined that the official cutoff is based on when the ticket is registered by the central computer, not when payment occurs or when the clerk hits the button.
• Simply being able to pay before 9 PM or having the terminal clock show 8:59 PM doesn’t guarantee eligibility.

This a few seconds of delay in buying a lottery ticket will not automatically make you a loser in Canada — but in rare cases, it can matter, depending on timing and the cutoff deadline for ticket sales.

Most Canadian lotteries like Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49, Daily Grand have strict ticket purchase deadlines, usually about 1–2 hours before the draw. For example:

• Lotto Max cutoff: Friday 10:30 PM ET
• Lotto 6/49 cutoff: Wednesday & Saturday 10:30 PM ET

If you miss the cutoff by even a second, your ticket will be valid for the next draw, not the one happening that night.

• Buying just before the cutoff: If you tried to buy at 10:29:59 PM but the transaction completes at 10:30:01 PM, you miss the current draw. If those numbers hit, you’re out of luck.
• Online purchases with processing delay: Internet or app-based ticket purchases take time to process, so starting the purchase too close to the cutoff could push it past the deadline.
• Retail purchases near deadline: If the retailer’s terminal is busy or slow, your ticket might not print in time.

Here are more instances. You go to a lotto shop to buy a ticket but the doors are shut but the lights are on inside. After few minutes of waiting the door is opened and you step inside to buy a lottery ticket. You ask the owner for the delay in opening the door and his reply was he as having a minute break to attend his personal need like washroom.

Or there may be instance where the store computer froze and you couldn’t get into their online lottery website to buy tickets.

With so many of delays or disasters like bugs, glitches or store mishaps seem frustrating for a regular lottery player.

Canadian Lotteries Cut Off Time

Lottery	Draw	Cut Off Time
Lotto Max	Tuesday & Friday	9:30 PM (local)
Lotto 6/49	Wednesday & Saturday	9:30 PM (local)
Daily Grand	Monday & Thursday	9:30 PM (local)
Ontario 49	Wednesday & Saturday	10:30 PM (ET)
Quebec 49	Wednesday & Saturday	10:30 PM (ET)

Regional Canadian Lottery Cut Off Time

OLG (Ontario)

• Lotto Max / 6/49 / Daily Grand: 10:30 PM ET
• Ontario 49 / Encore: 10:30 PM ET

Loto-Québec

Same as OLG: 10:30 PM ET

WCLC (Western Canada: AB, SK, MB, NT, NU, YT)

All major games: 9:30 PM CT / 8:30 PM MT

Atlantic Lottery (ALC)

• Applies to NB, NS, PEI, NL
• Lotto Max / 6/49 / Daily Grand: 10:30 PM AT (Atlantic Time)

BCLC (British Columbia)

All national games: 7:30 PM PT

• Online players (e.g., via OLG.ca or Loto-Québec online): Ensure your transaction is confirmed before cutoff.
• Retail terminals shut down sales exactly at cutoff — there is no grace period.
• If you buy a ticket even one second too late, it will be entered for the next draw, not the current one.

So what lesson is to be learnt from all these delays of minutes and seconds. The moral is to buy tickets at least 24 hours BEFORE the draw. That way you’ll also avoid the problem that Joel Ifergan had when he lost $27M.

Conclusion

Therefore plan ahead if you really wish to play lottery and to make your best bet is to always act early like 24 hours before so that any problem can be fixed ahead of the game and you are not late in playing the lottery.

In lotteries with strict cutoff times, the exact moment your ticket is processed matters, even mere seconds count. The timestamp on the lottery system, not your watch or the clerk’s word, determines if you’re in the draw.

 

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