Those who were unable to score tickets during the first ticket lottery for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games can try again during the “second-chance” draw next week.
The local organizing committee announced on Tuesday that fans can register for the new lottery on August 8. It will be open to about 4.16 million Japanese residents who were unsuccessful during the first draw, and around 680,000 tickets will be available for 20 of the 33 sporting events. Applications will be accepted on the official ticketing site until August 19 at 11:59 a.m. and results will be announced on September 11.
Soccer, basketball, beach volleyball, and hockey are among the sports with the most sessions up-for-grabs, organizers said. Additionally, tickets will be offered for athletics and baseball medal events. During the lottery, fans can apply for up to six tickets for one session each for qualifying matches and four for medal events.
During the first drawing, only about 960,000 people scored tickets out of the 5.12 million applicants. This year’s demand for tickets is undeniably higher than 2012’s games in Rio de Janeiro, where tickets were given away or left unsold. A spokesman for Tokyo 2020 told The Associated Press that the demand for tickets “indeed exceeded our expectations” and organizers were “absolutely pleased” by the heightened level of interest.
Outside of Japan, people around the world are also vying for tickets. CoSport, the Authorized Ticket Reseller for other countries including the U.S., said that there is a ticket shortage and has delayed its ticket allocations. Fans can only purchase tickets through these authorized sellers as Japan passed a law earlier this year that prohibits ticket scalping; if caught, scalpers can face a fine of 1 million yen ($9,100) or a one-year jail sentence.
A second-phase lottery will be held this fall for all Japanese residents, followed by the first phase lottery for the Paralympic games. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics is slated to take place from July 24 to August 9, 2020, followed by the Paralympics from August 25 to September 6.
