UPDATE 18/10/17: The legislation has now been passed.
Ticket scalping will be made illegal in NSW under a new law being proposed by the state government.
Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean announced that he will propose a reform to the state’s Fair Trading Act that will stop tickets being bought at the original cost and resold on for more money.
“I’m sick and tired of consumers being taken for a ride by shonky operators looking to make a quick buck at the expense of ordinary fans,” he said.
Under this reform, it will be illegal to sell tickets to a NSW event for more than 10 per cent over its original price.
“Absolutely no ticket to a NSW sporting or entertainment event should be resold for more than 10 per cent above its original price,” Kean said.
“We understand there may be legitimate reasons why people wish to on-sell event tickets, but we won’t tolerate the often exorbitant prices they’re listed online for.”
There are a number of amendments to the Fair Trading Act 1987 that will be proposed. Bots that automatically buy tickets in bulk will be outlawed, advertising for tickets that are over the original price will be banned and ticket organisers will have to disclose how many tickets are available to an event.
The government, however, will ensure that tickets that are resold within the new laws will not be able to be cancelled by event organisers.
A bill is currently being put together to present to Parliament by the state government.
Victoria also announced plans earlier this year to extend its anti-scalping laws making it an offence to resell a ticket for more than its face value.
Over the past year, a number of events have been plagued by ticket resellers selling tickets for exorbitant prices. Tickets to events like Green Day, Ed Sheeran and Sia have all been listed for hundreds of dollars more than the original cost on resale sites in the past year.
Just last week ticket reselling platform Viagogo won an award for being “as reliable as a scalper in a back alley”.
