Ticket scalping legislation to be drawn up

‘‘These practices also affect our local cultural sector.’’

The Government has announced measures to protect consumers from ticket scalpers.

As the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was ‘‘blatantly unfair’’ and there would now be a review into ticket reselling in New Zealand.

Measures planned include a price cap on resale tickets, enforcing rules around information that needs to be disclosed to better inform consumers, and banning ticket-buying ‘‘bots’’.

‘‘We all know people who have bought tickets to the big concerts, sporting events and festivals who have not been able to attend because the tickets were fake or were duplicates.

‘‘It’s not just big international events that are the issue – these practices also affect our local cultural sector. I’ve heard that the Upper Hutt Musical Theatre’s production of Blood Brothers had tickets on Viagogo advertised for $135 – that’s $105 more than the original ticket price.

‘‘It’s fundamentally unfair that people are profiting while our arts and culture sector is shortchanged and consumers are being scammed,’’ Ardern said.

In February reported new laws targeting ticket scalpers were expected if Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi got Cabinet approval.

He said yesterday there was now a clear policy direction and there would be consultation

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

before legislation was drafted.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was seeking written submissions on the issue by April 18.

Concern about the practice of professional scalpers using ticket ‘‘bots’’ to buy up large quantities of tickets online and then reselling them at hugely inflated prices, had already resulted in bots being banned in the United States, the United Kingdom and in New South Wales, Australia, he said. ‘‘So it seems entirely appropriate we should also be looking to end this practice in New Zealand.’’

Work undertaken by officials revealed the average ticket resale profit for one recent concert was about $195. And research undertaken by Consumer NZ in 2017 showed 54 per cent of people who responded had paid more than face value for tickets.

While misleading and deceptive behaviour was already prohibited under the Fair Trading Act, Faafoi was concerned it didn’t go far enough towards protecting consumers.

‘‘Buyer beware’’ was not working, he said. An existing law, designed for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, can only be used to stop ticket scalping at major events.