More than a million Michael Jackson fans from around the world have registered on the Staples Center website (http://www.staplescenter.com/memorial.php) set up to administer the lottery for tickets to the dead entertainers memorial service next week.

According to the Jackson family public relations firm, as of 1.00pm PST, a total of 1,223,978 people had registered for the memorial service tickets.

With each registrant only allowed to apply once, the odds of winning a ticket to the show as of 1.00pm were 1.42 percent if both people applied for the one set of twin tickets and 0.71 percent if only one applied.

With less than three hours until applications will stop being taken at 6.00pm PST, organizers are expecting the final number of registrants to approach almost two million.

After initially limiting applicants to only Jackson fans in the United States – excluding Rhode Island, Florida and New York – concert promoters bowed to international howls of protest and allowed applications from anywhere in the world, except where the offer was banned by local laws.

AEG, the concert promoters who own the Staples Centre venue, said 17,500 tickets will be given away free to grieving fans who register their interest on the website in the 32-hour time period the offer is open.

Only 11,000 of the available tickets are for the service itself. The other 6,500 are for the Nokia Theatre nextdoor where fans will watch on three large screens.

The Staples Centre Michael Jackson memorial service lottery will randomly draw the winners on Sunday afternoon and send notifications “via email on or about Sunday, July 5, 2009 by 3.00pm PST”

For those unlucky enough not to win a ticket the service will be broadcast live on television and streamed over the internet with a global audience of hundreds of millions expected to tune in.

Los Angeles Police Department chief Earl Paysinger, said, “if you do not have a ticket, if you are not credentialled, not only will you not be allowed at these venues, you will not be allowed in this area.

“I would encourage all of the Michael Jackson fans and well wishers to take advantage of the TV broadcast.”

Ken Ehrlich, who will produce the Michael Jackson memorial service, said, “it will be a memorial service reflecting the dignity of what the family wants. It will be a fitting memorial to Michael Jackson. No dance numbers.”

The Jackson family had wanted to hold a memorial at Neverland, the entertainer’s California ranch, but that was blocked by lack of a permit.

Jackson is expected to be buried in a $25,000 (£15,000) casket made of solid bronze and plated with 14-karat gold. It is called the Promethean and is the same style used for the entertainer James Brown.

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