BEIJING -- Tickets for the 2008 Olympics will go on sale next month, but the buyers of tickets for some hot events will have to be decided by random draw, organizers said.

Chinese nationals and foreigners residing in China can now register to book tickets online after the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) launched the official ticketing website (www.tickets.beijing2008.cn/) on Thursday.

BOCOG released full details on ticket prices on the site and said ticket sales would be in three phases starting from April 2007.

The most expensive tickets will be for the opening ceremony on the evening of August 8, which will cost 5,000 yuan (US$646). The cheapest tickets for that event will be 200 yuan (US$25.8).

Ticket prices for the closing ceremony will range from 150 yuan (US$19.4) to 3,000 yuan (US$388).

Tickets to competition events will cost from 30-1,000 yuan (US$3.88-129.3), with the men's basketball final the highest priced.

BOCOG said last year that more than seven million tickets will be available for sale, with at least half to go to local fans and 58 percent of all the tickets would cost 100 yuan (US$12.75) or less, in line with efforts to make the Olympics affordable to average Chinese citizens.