Touts who bulk buy tickets face going to prison
TICKeT touts who use complex computer software to bulk buy concert tickets to resell at inflated prices will be jailed or fined.
A law is set to be passed within weeks which will ban touts from buying more than a small number of tickets for a single event using automated technology.
Those found guilty will face a fine of up to £5,000 or even jail for up to a year, it can be revealed. The measure will be a major blow to touts who harvest tickets for popular gigs to resell, often despite opposition from artists. Secondary sites then sell the tickets to fans, also taking a cut of the profits.
Currently touts can use the software known as ‘bots’ to bulk buy event tickets as soon as they go on sale.
They are sold on at a massive mark-up, netting the touts big profits but leaving fans out of pocket. Tickets for Phil Collins’s tour, priced at £55, sold out in seconds on Ticketmaster in November but were later for sale on other websites for £2,000.
In the Digital economy Bill, there is an amendment which makes the use of these ‘bots’ for purchasing tickets for resale a crime. Sources said the measure – which is in the house of Lords – was set to be passed in the coming weeks.
Tory MP Nigel Adams said: ‘I have been working to outlaw the use of software on purchasing tickets. Touts are sweeping up tickets and denying genuine fans access.
‘The industrial scale of touting has been going on for too long. I am hopeful this Government will take action to protect the public from these rip-off merchants.’
The problem hit Mr Adams when he tried to buy four Green Day tickets only for them to be ‘snaffled by a bot attack’.
efforts by stars such as Adele and ed Sheeran, and the producers of the musical hamilton, have been sidestepped relatively easily by the unscrupulous touts.
Pressure for the Government to take hard action against touting has been growing amid outrage from the music industry. Fans have reacted with fury after tickets sold out in seconds on official sites, only to appear just minutes later on secondary sites at inflated prices.
In the Lords, amendments to the Bill have been put forward which would result in websites that allow touts to resell tickets being prosecuted unless they have permission from event organisers.
Campaigners say this would outlaw much of the controversial ticket resale industry, dominated by websites Viagogo, Stubhub, Seatwave and GetMeIn.
It is understood that sites would have to notify police when more than a set number of tickets have been scooped up by a ‘bot’.
The law follows suit with similar action put into place in the US.
One of Barack Obama’s last actions was to outlaw ‘bots’ that harvest sports and gig seats. It is now a US federal offence for touts to use bots to snap up tickets before humans are able to.
It followed a report by the US Attorney General that found that touts using just one bot had bought 1,000 tickets in 60 seconds for a U2 concert.
‘Denying genuine fans access’