Prime Minister Theresa May has committed to a government scrutiny of the secondary ticketing market at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in parliament.
At today’s (19 October) PMQs, Nigel Adams MP asked for May’s support to tackle the large scale online ticket touting now prevalent at music, sport, theatre and other cultural events.
Following similar measures taken in New York, Adams proposed an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill that would criminalise the misuse of so-called ‘bot’ technology to unlawfully harvest event tickets.
May responded: ‘I thank my Hon. Friend for raising that issue. I am sure that he is not the only Member of the House who has had that experience, and he is certainly not the only person who has been affected, as members will know from their constituency mailbags.
‘The Consumer Rights Act 2015 introduced a review of online ticket sales. Professor Mike Waterson’s independent report on online secondary ticketing makes a number of recommendations, including some whereby the industry itself could better protect itself from the problem. The government will look very carefully at those recommendations to see what can be done to address the issue.’
The automated software criticised by Adams hacks into ticket sales at the instant they go live online.
They can perform thousands of transactions simultaneously, potentially blocking access to genuine fans and enabling touts to scalp inventory for resale at profit.
It is estimated that the UK's secondary ticketing market is worth more than £1bn per year.
Adams’ amendment is due to be debated in parliament by 27 October 2016.
His proposals have been welcomed by the FanFair Alliance, which is campaigning against industrial-scale ticket touting.
Adam Webb, FanFair campaign manager said: ‘Instinctively, I suspect most people would feel that hacking into a ticket sale with the sole intention of hoovering up huge volumes of inventory to then “resell” at profit would be illegal.
‘Along with enforcement of existing consumer legislation - something that is urgently needed - if this amendment is made law then it would help turn the tide and ensure that the ticketing market works in favour of fans, rather than touts and the under-regulated secondary platforms that they operate from.’
The proposed amendment can be viewed in full here (p51): http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0045/amend/digital_rm_pbc_1018.pdf
At today’s (19 October) PMQs, Nigel Adams MP asked for May’s support to tackle the large scale online ticket touting now prevalent at music, sport, theatre and other cultural events.
Following similar measures taken in New York, Adams proposed an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill that would criminalise the misuse of so-called ‘bot’ technology to unlawfully harvest event tickets.
May responded: ‘I thank my Hon. Friend for raising that issue. I am sure that he is not the only Member of the House who has had that experience, and he is certainly not the only person who has been affected, as members will know from their constituency mailbags.
‘The Consumer Rights Act 2015 introduced a review of online ticket sales. Professor Mike Waterson’s independent report on online secondary ticketing makes a number of recommendations, including some whereby the industry itself could better protect itself from the problem. The government will look very carefully at those recommendations to see what can be done to address the issue.’
The automated software criticised by Adams hacks into ticket sales at the instant they go live online.
They can perform thousands of transactions simultaneously, potentially blocking access to genuine fans and enabling touts to scalp inventory for resale at profit.
It is estimated that the UK's secondary ticketing market is worth more than £1bn per year.
Adams’ amendment is due to be debated in parliament by 27 October 2016.
His proposals have been welcomed by the FanFair Alliance, which is campaigning against industrial-scale ticket touting.
Adam Webb, FanFair campaign manager said: ‘Instinctively, I suspect most people would feel that hacking into a ticket sale with the sole intention of hoovering up huge volumes of inventory to then “resell” at profit would be illegal.
‘Along with enforcement of existing consumer legislation - something that is urgently needed - if this amendment is made law then it would help turn the tide and ensure that the ticketing market works in favour of fans, rather than touts and the under-regulated secondary platforms that they operate from.’
The proposed amendment can be viewed in full here (p51): http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/2016-2017/0045/amend/digital_rm_pbc_1018.pdf
