New lottery offers chance at tickets for 2010 Games
Last Updated: Monday, December 1, 2008 | 8:26 PM ET
CBC News
John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee, says a new lottery game is another way for the public to gain access to tickets. (CBC) The B.C. Lottery Corporation is offering a new game in which players can win coveted tickets to the 2010 Winter Games, along with other prizes and cash.
The Countdown to 2010 lottery is another way for the public to gain access to tickets for the Olympics, said John Furlong, CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee.
Players who buy a $20 lottery ticket have a chance to win seats at the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the gold medal men's hockey game.
"If you think about gold medal hockey, we're going to be telling somewhere in the order of 135,000 applicants that they won't be getting a gold medal hockey ticket so this is another way for people to be able to get to go," Furlong said Monday.
The prizes include 500 pairs of tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies, vacation packages, vehicles, electronic items and $20,000 cash.
Internal ticket draws completed
The first round of ticket sales for the 2010 Games ended last month. Due to the high demand, the majority of the tickets were allocated by an internal lottery, and the process has been completed, said Dave Cobb, the organizing committee's vice-president of ticketing.
Organizers will inform ticket owners by Dec. 10, but those who ordered tickets using Visa may see the charges show up on their statements before receiving confirmation, Cobb said.
"What they won't know is which tickets they got … But we hope to get in contact with them very quickly so they'll know what they got, then they can start thinking about what additional order they want to put in when the priority access phase opens on the 12th of December," he said.
Those who did not get tickets during the first round of ticket sales will have priority to request the unpurchased tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis between Dec. 12 and 22.
Tickets remaining after that will go on sale to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis in February. About 70 per cent of all tickets will be available to the general public.
The 2010 Games begin Feb. 12, 2010.
