Government Targets Ticket Touting and Dynamic Pricing in Live Events Sector

 

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Key measures under consideration include:

• Capping resale prices: Limiting mark-ups on resold tickets to prevent inflated costs, with suggested caps ranging from the original ticket price to a 30% uplift.
• Increased platform accountability: Ensuring resale websites are transparent and accurate in their listings, with legal obligations enforced by Trading Standards.
• Stronger penalties and updated legislation: Introducing higher fines and a potential licensing regime for resale platforms to protect consumers.

LIVE CEO Jon Collins welcomed the announcement, highlighting the importance of balancing consumer protection with industry needs:

“We are delighted that measures permitting responsible and fair fan-to-fan resale, while eliminating third-party profiteering, will be brought forward. This will reduce the incentive for touts to squeeze fans out of the primary sale and highlights the need to set the cap on resales at or near the original price.”

Industry groups such as the FanFair Alliance and the Music Managers Forum have also praised the proposals, noting their potential to align the UK with other countries that have successfully curbed mass-scale ticket touting.

The consultation, open until April 4th, is a significant step toward ensuring fairness in the ticketing market, allowing fans better access to events and redirecting revenue back into the live events sector.