Beijing claims victory over Games ticket scalpers

A Beijing Games official said Monday that authorities have caught more than 100 scalpers and confiscated about 340 tickets for the Olympic Games.

"I think policemen have done their best, as it's not easy to distinguish the situation in which tickets are actually transferred in a fair way and the situation in which the tickets are scalped for high profits," Games spokesman Wang Wei said at a Monday news conference in Beijing.

According to the New China news agency, Wang also said that Beijing Games organizers have no unused tickets to distribute -- even though empty seats are evident at some venues.

"Of course, as a standard practice, there are some emergency tickets, about two percent of the total and scattered all over the venues, for dealing with emergencies, such as the certain part of a venue has to be blocked," Wang said in New China's report. "Such kind of tickets must be kept and we do not have any other tickets."

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Chinese authorities have installed signs that warn scalpers against selling tickets. Credit: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images