Tokyo Paralympic lottery opens with 2.3M tickets available

In this Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, photo, people walk past the Olympic rings in Tokyo. Tokyo is shaping up as a very pricey Olympics. Ticket demand is unprecedented, so scalping is sure to flourish. Hotel rates are soaring to five-six times normal. And getting here will be costly, particularly for fans from the Americas and Europe. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

TOKYO— Tokyo’s Paralympics could be the big winner with Olympic tickets hard to find and costly.

The lottery for Paralympic tickets for Japan residents opened on Thursday with 2.3 million available. The lottery closes on Sept. 9. A second lottery will be held early next year.

Olympic tickets are experiencing unprecedented demand in Japan and elsewhere. Demand is at least 10 times over supply for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and probably much more than that.

Paralympic tickets should be more available, and less expensive. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremony are about half the price of Olympic tickets. Some event tickets sell for as low as 900 yen, or about $8.

The Paralympics open on Aug. 25, 2020 — one year from Sunday.