Entry No.78i

IT Writers Awards

A black market of scalped Sydney games tickets is thriving online. But the ill-gotten tickets may be worthless.

SYDNEY - Another ticketing controversy has hit the Sydney Olympics. Numerous overseas Web sites are scalping up to 200 Olympics tickets at a time - but the ill-gotten tickets may end up worthless.

"If anyone is interested, I am selling all 200 of my Olympics tickets since I won't be able to make it," read an e-mail that came into the hands of ZDNet Australia.

Attached was a link to a U.S.-based Web site dedicated to the trade of Olympics seats. The site offered no explanation for why someone would anticipate attending 200 events or why such plans had changed.

'You could turn up at games time and find that someone else has a voucher that takes precedence over the ticket you have purchased through an unofficial agent. '|SOCOG's John O'Neill "We reserve the right to cancel tickets if we can identify someone who is at the source of unauthorized tickets that have been sold," Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) Ticketing Communications Manager John O'Neill told ZDNet Australia. The SOCOG was at the center of another ticketing scandal last year when news leaked that a secret stash of Olympics tickets were being sold to high rollers.

If a ticket code is cancelled, it is rendered useless, making it onerous for both the trader and the recipient of scalped Olympic tickets. "If we cancel a ticket, we can issue a voucher that will take precedence over that ticket improperly traded," O'Neill said.

"So you could turn up at games time and find that someone else has a voucher that takes precedence over the ticket you have purchased through an unofficial agent." And so, although the Olympics is ubiquitously described as "the world's largest peacetime event," it seems further squabbles are set to arise.

'A lot of aggravation' "It's very risky to either purchase or sell (unauthorized tickets). There will be a lot of aggravation on either side of the transaction," O'Neill warned. The U.S.-based site -- olympictickets.8k.com -- charts exactly which tickets are available for 20 different events ranging from table tennis to swimming. An interested party will find a full schedule of dates, event times, venue and the number of tickets available.

Keen on men's soccer? The site has 10 tickets available for a 6:30 p.m. game on Sept. 14. As for the price, that may be something to haggle over. The site supplied a telephone number and e-mail address, but the ticket seller was unavailable for comment for this article.

SOCOG refused to make any further comments on the unauthorized selling of Olympic tickets.

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