Ticket re-sale price cap proposed by UK government in touting clampdown
The UK government has announced plans to cap the price of resale tickets in an attempt to clamp-down on ticket touts.
The cap was one of the Labour government’s election promises, in response to complaints from event-goers that touts were bulk buying tickets and then reselling them for huge profits. The cap would apply to the live events industry, covering music, sport, comedy and theatre.
A public consultation will now be launched to consider how much the cap will be, with considerations reportedly being given to anywhere from the ticket’s face value up to 30% on top of the original price. Ministers are also proposing limiting the number of tickets that resellers can sell, to the maximum that they are allowed to purchase in the original ticket sale.
The consultation will also look at dynamic pricing, which sees ticketing companies raise the price of tickets at times of high demand. This method of selling tickets was particularly put under the microscope recently when tickets for Oasis’ reunion shows went on sale.
According to analysis by the Competition and Market Authority (CMA), tickets sold on the resale market are typically marked up by more than 50%.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said: “We are taking action to strengthen consumer protections, stop fans getting ripped off and ensure money spent on tickets goes back into our incredible live events sector, instead of into the pockets of greedy touts.”
In a statement, leading ticket resale site Viagogo said it would “continue to constructively engage with the government”, and that it will “look forward to responding in full to the consultation and call for evidence on improving consumer protections in the ticketing market”.
Research carried out last year found that ticket touts are costing music fans £145 million a year in the UK.
In the US live event ticketing industry, the Department of Justice launched a lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation to break up its alleged monopoly last May.
