As It Happens<\/span>6:31<\/span>U.K. government moves to ban inflated resale of tickets for entertainment and sports events<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n Whether you’re vying for seats<\/a> at a Toronto Blue Jays playoff game or frantically refreshing screens for a shot<\/a> at Taylor Swift\u2019s blockbuster Eras Tour, the heartbreak has become all too familiar: tickets vanish within minutes, only to resurface on resale sites at much more than their original price. <\/p>\n But the U.K. government is moving to crack down on the reselling that prices fans out of seeing their favourite artists and teams. The proposed legislation, announced on Wednesday, would make it illegal to resell tickets for concerts, theatre, comedy, sports and other live events for more than their original face value. <\/p>\n \u201cFor too long, ticket [scalpers] have ripped off fans, using bots to snap up batches of tickets and resell them at sky-high prices,\u201d Lisa Nandy, British Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement. <\/p>\n This move follows a call from musicians last Thursday, where artists including Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Radiohead, urged British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to crack down on \u201cextortionate and pernicious\u201d websites that resell concert tickets. <\/p>\n According to the U.K. government, the measures could save fans there around \u00a3112 million annually ($206 million) and result in 900,000 more tickets being purchased directly from primary sellers each year. <\/p>\n In the U.K., the secondary ticket market is dominated by Viagogo and StubHub. There, Ticketmaster previously ran its own resale sites, Get Me In! and Seatwave, but it since switched to a capped resale platform. <\/p>\n Adam Webb of the London-based Fan Fair Alliance, a group campaigning against online scalping, say the regulation could directly target the nefarious behaviour of scalpers. <\/p>\n “You’ve got some dedicated people unlawfully removing huge volumes of primary tickets at face value and then instantly [and] dynamically inflating those tickets,\u201d Webb told As It Happens<\/em> host Nil K\u00f6ksal. <\/p>\n “They are creating their own demand, and then they are ‘very kindly’ offering to fulfill that demand.\u201d <\/p>\n The new rules, will apply to all platforms that sell tickets to U.K. fans \u2014 including social media such as Facebook Marketplace or X. Businesses that break the rules could face financial penalties. <\/p>\n Scalping affects events of all sizes, says Webb. For major shows, he’s seen scalpers focus on maximizing profit, often driving ticket prices to extreme levels. Yet he says many of their strategies don\u2019t always make sense. <\/p>\n “Why would you be pricing yourself out of the market by listing tickets at \u00a310,000 ($18, 439)?\u201d Webb said. <\/p>\n Smaller venues are not immune. Webb said he found tickets for a Steely Dan cover band, priced at \u00a322 ($40.57), were being resold by a single seller for up to \u00a3129 ($237.87) each, with another two tickets listed for \u00a35,394 ($9946.24). <\/p>\n While the government\u2019s proposal may feel like \u201ca real champagne moment,\u201d Webb cautions it is \u201cnot quite a victory yet\u201d until it becomes law. <\/p>\n \u201cThe ultimate ambition is a change of market,” Webb said. <\/p>\n Vass Bednar, managing director of a policy think tank called Canadian Shield Institute, says it’s \u201cencouraging\u201d that the U.K. government is responding to public frustration and framing it as a cost-of-living policy issue.<\/p>\n In general, she says the U.K. is further along in debating acceptable ticket-pricing practices. <\/p>\n For example, Britain\u2019s competition watchdog launched an investigation<\/a> into Ticketmaster last year over the sale of Oasis tickets, including the use of “dynamic pricing” to hike the cost to fans at the last minute. <\/p>\n Many thought they would pay the advertised rate of \u00a3148.50 ($264) but ended up paying more than double at \u00a3355.20 ($632). <\/p>\nSmall and big events affected <\/h2>\n
What this means in Canada <\/strong> <\/h2>\n
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