EAD scalpers of NSW: you are hereby banished from the land.
The Premier State has just become the first in the country to pass a law outlawing ticketing bots, with scalpers who use the crafty software to snap up tickets before the general public to face fines of up to $110,000.
As the ABC reports, the freshly minted Fair Trading Amendment (Ticket Scalping and Gift Cards) Bill 2017 has officially enshrined the following as law:
* Banned the use of bots
* Capped resale prices of tickets within 10 per cent of the original price
* Prohibited ads for the resale of event tickets that go over this 10 per cent cap
* Given the Government the power to order event organisers to disclose the number of tickets available for sale to the public
Scalpers caught flogging concert tickets for more than the specified 10 per cent — and websites or other publications promoting said tickets — will also face fines of $22,000 for individuals or $110,000 for corporations.
“We will stop the bots,” Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean told Parliament.
“Ordinary sports and live entertainment fans are finding it harder and harder to access tickets,” he said. “These laws will go a long way towards protecting genuine fans.
“The legislation puts consumers first and introduces measures to improve information transparency in the primary and secondary markets,” he continued.
“It will prevent price gouging by dishonest scalpers and ban the use of bots to buy tickets in breach of a website’s terms and conditions.”
One for the good guys, folks.
Meanwhile, similar bot-busting legislation is also on the way for Victoria.
