Is Ticketmaster helping scalpers?

Scalpers using bots to scoop up huge numbers of tickets to resell at much-inflated prices have become a curse for the concertgoing public. Shows can sell out in moments, with thousands of tickets appearing on reseller websites minutes later.

So what is Ticketmaster, the largest player in the ticketing industry, doing about a problem afflicting its customers with added costs and hassles? Cashing in — twice. That’s according to a new report based on a news-media sting operation at a ticketing and live-entertainment convention in Las Vegas, where Ticketmaster reportedly held a private event for scalpers, whom the West Hollywood company refers to as “resellers” and “brokers.”

Canada’s national broadcaster CBC and the Toronto Star newspaper sent undercover reporters to Ticket Summit 2018 in July, CBC reported this week.

“Posing as scalpers and equipped with hidden cameras, the journalists were pitched on Ticketmaster’s professional reseller program,” CBC reported. “Company representatives told them Ticketmaster’s resale division turns a blind eye to scalpers who use ticket-buying bots and fake identities to snatch up tickets and then resell them on the site for inflated prices.”

“Those pricey resale tickets include extra fees for Ticketmaster,” CBC reported.

The company told the news outlets that as long as there’s an imbalance between supply and demand for event tickets, there will be a secondary ticket market.

“It is our job to offer a marketplace that provides a safe and fair place for fans to shop, buy and sell tickets in both the primary and secondary markets,” it told CBC.