St. John's, Antigua -- July 20, 2007 -- The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) will be making an interim payout of US$12 million to the Local Organizing Committees out of the net proceeds from the ticket sales from the Cricket World Cup.

This, according to President of the WICB Kenneth Gordon, is in keeping with the agreement with the host countries for the sharing of the profits from the event.

"The ticket sales are being audited by international auditing firm KPMG and are expected to be completed by September 30th. We felt strongly however that an interim payment based on our un-audited results was warranted and would be appreciated by the host countries."

He added, "In addition to awaiting the outcome of the audit, we must also finalize all outstanding matters with the LOCs which we are in the process of doing and which is normal for the post-tournament reconciliation of any major event."

Unaudited gross ticket sales for the event was US$32 million which was the highest in the history of the Cricket World Cup, surpassing the US$22 million achieved in England in 1999 and US$9.7 million earned by South Africa in 2003. Under the profit share arrangement, the LOCs are entitled to the ticket sales less administrative charges.

Chairman of the Prime Ministers' Sub-committee on Cricket, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell welcomed the news of the interim payment.

"We are pleased the WICB is making this interim payment and look forward to the completion of the audit and final reconciliation. The West Indies can be proud that ticket sales for our event surpassed what was achieved previously in much larger countries like England and South Africa.

The Prime Minister added, "While ticket sales were significant and provide a direct return on our investment, it is only a fraction of the gains we have made from hosting this event including the improvements to infrastructure, the training and exposure for our people and the expenditures of the visitors. The event was a practical demonstration of regional collaboration and integration at many levels and we will all benefit going forward from the many lessons learned."

The ticket sales were generated from selling 672,000 tickets for the event, which also surpassed the last two cricket world cups in South Africa (625,000) and England (476,000).