Los Angeles (E! Online) – As expected, the ticket lottery for the Michael Jackson Public Memorial Service has sparked a fan frenzy not unlike one of the pop icon's concerts.
Over 1.6 million people registered for the chance to receive one of the 17,500 free tickets that have been allotted for Tuesday's 10 a.m. service, according to Ken Sunshine, a family spokesman for the Jacksons.
Fans had until 6 p.m. Saturday to apply online. With registration now over, AEG will initiate a thorough "scrubbing" of all entries in order to weed out any duplicates and those suspected of having been made by auto-entry programs or "go-bots," the type frequently utilized by ticket scalpers.
A computer program will then randomly select the winners, who will be notified between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets will be divided between venues—with only 11,000 given for the service inside of the Staples Center and the remaining tickets allotted for the screening in the Nokia Theater.
Los Angeles police and city officials have warned fans without tickets to stay home, since the screens outside the venues will not be used to broadcast the event. Organizers have also taken pains to stress the service is not a show but a public remembrance of the 50-year-old singer, who died suddenly June 25 of a suspected cardiac arrest.
As the city and Jackson family prepare for Tuesday's memorial service, E! News has confirmed that the Rev. Al Sharpton will be calling for a National Day of Mourning during his sermon at a Sunday morning church service in Los Angeles.
Although the music legend is being laid to rest, the investigation into his death meanwhile continues.
According to the Los Angeles Times, investigators are concentrating on at least five doctors who prescribed drugs to Jackson after confiscating prescription medications from his Holmby Hills mansion this week, one of which is Propofol, an anesthetic used in hospitals and not commonly given out for sleep disorders
There has been much speculation that the drug, which is administered with an IV, and other prescriptions may have played a strong role in the King of Pop's death. Sources tell the Times that some of the drugs were prescribed to Jackson's pseudonyms, and others didn't have prescription labels at all.
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