Obama's inaugural parade tickets sell out in less than a minute

Washington, January 10 (ANI): Tickets to watch U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue are selling like hot cakes, as thousands of them were sold out in less than a minute on Friday

Soon afterwards, many people offered to resell them on various Web sites.

Blogger Dcist has revealed that tickets went on sale at 1 p.m. and were no longer available at 1:01 p.m.

"Did anyone actually manage to score any?" the Washington Times quoted the blogger as saying.

On behalf of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, 5,000 tickets were sold for just 25 dollars each. One person could buy four tickets at the most.

It is believed that Obama's inauguration may be the most attended presidential inaguration celebration since Lyndon B. Johnson drew 1.5 million people in January 1965.

Many of those lucky to be able to buy the tickets are offering them for sale on Craigslist.org.

"I am looking for 2,000 dollars for the set or best offer, and I can also split these tickets up. All reasonable offers are accepted," wrote one of the sellers offering four tickets.

Ads on the website suggest that some people are even ready to trade their Super Bowl tickets for the parade tickets.

The offers to resell the tickets have come to the fore despite scalping being illegal in the District, and carrying a fine of 50 dollars.

Emmett S. Beliveau, executive director of the inaugural committee, said that the tickets were to be make available to the public "as part of our commitment to holding the most open and accessible inauguration in history."

"The inaurgural parade is a celebration of America, and we are making sure that as many citizens as possible can take part in this historic tradition," Beliveau said. (ANI)