Scalpers are selling Rugby World Cup Sevens tickets for a record $8,600 in the United Kingdom, police said yesterday.
Tickets in the territory are changing hands for $7,000 - seven times the face value - which has almost doubled from last year's $550.
Chief Superintendent Anthony McLoughlin said police were preparing for more touts than usual at this year's event, which begins next Friday.
'There are quite phenomenal prices going around. I've heard they are fetching as much as GBP700 [HK$8,638] in the UK,' he said.
'I would expect that because this is a World Cup, there will be quite a number of touts. It's a reasonable assumption there will be more than previous years.' News of the staggering prices came as Sevens organisers declared war on scalpers with a new 'ticket bank' similar to that used for the Wimbledon tennis championships in London.
Sevens tickets are sold for the entire three days which means seats for individual days often go to waste or are resold.