![[Home]](/wiki.gif)
Ticket Scalping IllegalTicket Scalping Illegal
| |
| The Bush Survival Guide - 250 Ways to Make It Through The NExt Four Years Without Misunderestimating the Dangers Ahead, and Other Subliminable Stategeries |
|
Links:
| |
Ticket Scalping is the resale of a ticket purchased for an event, often at a profit. However, some teams define it as a crime more narrowly as any kind of resale of a ticket, even at a loss.
The National Association of Ticket Brokers calls ticket scalpers legitimate small-business men who "want nothing more than the opportunity to participate in the American dream."
It's difficult to find a good explanation of why ticket scalping is illegal. There is no federal law against ticket scalping. Many raceways, and the NFL, some municipalities, and some states, prohibit ticket scalping.
Some warnings about ticket scalping allude to vague comments about trying to eliminate middlemen. Some teams, if they discover someone selling a season ticket to their seat, will cancel the season ticket holder's account. It is unknown if the season ticket would receive a refund in such a situation, but as most places also have a no refund policy, it's doubtful that these venues would bother to make a refund on confiscated tickets.
Some claim that the ability of brokers to buy blocks of tickets for resale cause all the good tickets for events to sell out within minutes of the opening of ticket sales. This makes it difficult for individuals to buy tickets without paying the markup of scalpers.
Some brokers hire diggers or droids - people willing to stand in line or make repeated calls to buy tickets.
Some allege that promoters and bands are scalping their own tickets - selling prime seats to brokers to increase profit margins. Some venue owners have been prosecuted for grand larceny for putting choice seats "on hold" and then selling them to brokers at a premium.
Occassionally judges overturn the convictions of people prosecuted for ticket scalping by overzealous city attorneys. Despite the judge overturning the cases, the City Attorney's Office promised it "will continue to vigorously prosecute scalpers." In this case the judge only overturned the conviction because the Seattle Mariners were allowing season ticket holders to scalp online, but were only cracking down on in person street sellers. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/159409_scalping05.html
Bistol Motor Speedway takes advantage of their monopoly status in their area as a racing venue with the following policy: http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/handler.cfm/template,sub/cat_id,33460
Other event locations demand that you give you tickets you can't use to a charity.
No refund policies like this really give the lie to the venue being "worried" about letting all possible people buy a ticket. If there is a waiting line, and the venue can resell the ticket, they would allow refunds, perhaps minus a small $2 or $3 service charge. Otherwise, the venue is simply stealing money without providing a service or product, something almost no other business is able to do.
Another thing that made the incident newsworthy was the arrest of several scalpers outside the Bradley Center before a Milwaukee Bucks game in January 2001. Seeing how ordinary citizens were handcuffed and carted off to jail, I asked Pratt whether he thought it was fair he escaped with nothing more than a warning. "I think the circumstances were different," said Pratt, who also suggested the laws on scalping need to be better defined. "I didn't go down there with the intent to scalp tickets. I was trying to get a refund.
''Curiously, the two tickets confiscated by the guards ended up being used. Pratt said two women sat in the seats during the concert. He didn't know how they ended up with tickets.''
Is scalping tickets against the law? The City of Boulder has no ordinance prohibiting resale of event tickets within City limits.
Some links related to ticket scalping:
For more information, try searches like:
Check out [Facts About Trees]
Search for books about:
|
Interested in A Prayer For Kathy. By Will?