Montreal – Seven seconds cost Joel Ifergan CAD 13.5 million, the Montreal-area man contends in a Quebec Superior Court civil lawsuit against Loto-Quebec.

Ifergan is suing the provincial lottery body for that amount, claiming it’s how much he would have won in the May 23 Super Seven draw had the ticket he purchased been printed out on time.

According to the suit, he bought two tickets for that night’s draw at a convenience store, one minute to spare before the 9 p.m. deadline.

Although his first ticket was marked May 23, the second one – which was one of two that contained the winning number for the CAD 27-million jackpot – indicated May 30 because of a delay in the terminal printing it out. It said 9:00.07, meaning the number would automatically be applied to the following week’s draw.

Loto-Quebec has indicated that the heavy demands for that night’s draw resulted in a delay of up to 10 seconds to process tickets electronically.

Ifergan argues lottery rules talk about when a ticket is purchased, not when it is printed. He maintains the store owner told him he had enough time to buy both tickets.