What can you do after missing or losing a ticket ballot?

What should you do first?

Before you buy anything, open the event's own page and read which official phases are still to come. Most big events run several stages, and the ballot is only the first: returns, resale, later sales and separate member ballots are often still ahead, each at face value. Start with what is open now and every ballot we track to see the remaining phases for your event, then check the event's own site for the exact dates. Almost every panic purchase on a resale site happens because the buyer did not realise an official route was still open.

Official resale and returns

The safest fallback after a ballot is the event's own resale and returns programme. These usually open closer to the event, sell at face value, and exist precisely so that tickets from people who can no longer attend reach real fans instead of touts. Wimbledon, for example, gives unsuccessful public-ballot applicants access to returns and resale before the Championships.

The warning that matters here: many of these tickets are non-transferable by design. Wimbledon ballot, Queue and grounds tickets cannot be resold or passed on outside the official channels, so a ticket for one of those bought on a general resale site is not a legitimate route in, whatever it looks like. Non-transferable tickets bought outside official channels can be cancelled, which means you can pay well over face value and still be turned away at the gate. If a deal sits outside the organizer's own resale, treat it as no ticket at all.

Later sale phases some events run

Plenty of events deliberately hold inventory back for a first-come sale after the ballot. The Rugby World Cup 2027 is a clear example: after its application ballot, the next official chance is a first-come, first-served public sale from 1 October 2026, with further phases to follow. These are not ballots, they are ordinary sales, so a ready account and good timing matter rather than luck. That makes preparation the whole game: create or log in to the official account in advance, know the on-sale time, and be ready the moment it opens. Our event pages flag these later phases as their dates are confirmed.

The paid but legitimate route: hospitality

If you have missed the free routes and still want to go, official hospitality is the legitimate paid option. Ticket-inclusive hospitality and travel packages (Rugby World Cup Experiences for RWC 2027, hospitality and debenture packages at Wimbledon, and their equivalents elsewhere) are sold or authorised by the events themselves, so they are real tickets, not resale risk. They are also the most expensive way in by a wide margin, which is why they sit last here: worth considering only once the free ballot, returns, resale and later sales are genuinely exhausted. Labelled honestly, hospitality is a real route; it is just never the one to reach for first.

Set up for next cycle

The big ballots come back every year on a fairly steady rhythm, so a loss this cycle is mostly a prompt to be ready for the next one. The Wimbledon public ballot opens around September, Roland-Garros runs its December draw, and the marathon majors stagger their windows across the back half of each year. Missing one is far less costly if you are already set up for its return.

Do two things now. Keep the free account you created (myWimbledon, FFT, One Club or the event's own), so next cycle you are entering, not starting over. And put the expected re-open on a calendar that reminds you: our free calendar tracks the windows for the events we cover and updates itself, so the next opening does not slip past. If you want to go in with a better plan than last time, the companion guide on improving your chances covers the honest levers in full.

Results-week scam warnings

Results day is when scammers work hardest, because they know thousands of people just found out they missed out and are looking for a way in. A few rules keep you safe:

• Organizers only contact you through the channel you registered with. A result lands in the account or email you signed up with, never as a surprise text or social-media message. Treat any out-of-the-blue "you have won" or "tickets available now" contact as fake.
• Never pay by bank transfer, gift card or crypto. Official ticketing takes normal card payment. A request to pay by transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency is the single clearest sign of a scam.
• "Guaranteed entry" and "secret allocation" sellers are lying. There is no back door into a random draw and no hidden stash a stranger can sell you. If it is not the organizer's own site, it is not a route in.

When in doubt, go back to the event's official page and start from there. The honest guide to how ballots work has more on spotting fakes.