UK Government to Reportedly Ban Ticket Resale Above Face Value

“Wembley Stadium (37)” by Martin Pettitt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Ticket reselling for profit will be outlawed in the UK under new legislation expected to be announced this week. A new report from the Guardian revealed that the sweeping ban is due to be announced on Wednesday, Nov. 19, following months of deliberations by cabinet ministers and an open plea to crack down on “extortionate and pernicious” ticket touters, signed by British artists like Radiohead, Mogwai, Dua Lipa and Coldplay last week.

Between January and April, the UK government conducted a secondary ticketing consultation to realize Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s election promise to cap ticket resale prices. While less stringent limitations gained traction during that process, such as a cap at 30% over the original ticket price and a licensing system for ticket resale companies, officials reportedly opted to ban all secondary sales above face value. Attempts to resell more tickets than an agent could have legally procured under original box-office limits will also be prohibited.

This legislation would deal a crushing blow to industrial-scale scalping, as well as to companies like Viagogo and StubHub that have platformed an exploitative aftermarket and reported record profits through fees on inflated prices. While these companies will still be permitted to collect additional fees on top of face-value exchanges, these too will be limited. Resale platforms will be held liable by the Competition and Markets Authority if sellers do not comply with the law.

Beyond services focused on ticket exchange, the reported ban will apply to social media sites, which could become an unregulated marketplace if scalpers continue to engage in prohibited price inflation outside traditional channels. 

“With a price cap on regulated marketplaces, ticket transactions will move to black markets,” a spokesperson for StubHub warned.

“Evidence shows price caps have repeatedly failed fans, in countries like Ireland and Australia fraud rates are nearly four times higher than in the UK as price caps push consumers towards unregulated sites,” a Viagogo spokesperson echoed.

On Monday, shares in StubHub Holdings dropped more than 14% in New York trading; StubHub Holdings is the parent company of Viagogo, as consumer watchdogs forced the UK’s StubHub to split off into a separate business after their 2020 merger. Price inflation by ticket touting costs consumers £145m a year, according to research by Let’s Stamp it Tout, a campaign started by Virgin Media O2. The ban on above-face-value resale is expected to reduce the average cost of a resale ticket by £40.

“Live Nation fully supports the UK government’s plan to ban ticket resale above face value,” a Live Nation spokesperson expressed in response to the new legislation. “Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices, and this is another major step forward for fans — cracking down on exploitative touting to help keep live events accessible. We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies.”

Read more on Live Nation’s agreement to provide new pricing transparency in the UK market, and the fallout from the Oasis tour onsale that spurred all this action, here.