A Quebec man who bought a lottery ticket seven seconds too late to be declared the winner has lost his court bid to appeal over a decision denying him half of the 27 million dollar prize.

The Supreme Court of Canada refused today to accept Joel Ifergan's appeal.

Mr Ifergan bought two Super 7 tickets in May 2008, seconds before the 9pm cut-off.

The first ticket was printed showing the May 23 date - that night's draw. The second ticket, with the winning numbers for that night's jackpot, was printed a few seconds later with a date for the following week's draw.

Mr Ifergan blamed the delay on Loto-Quebec's central computer system and sued the province's lottery regulator for half of the jackpot because there was another a winning ticket.