A Manitoba politician is the latest Canadian official to call for more regulation of the ticketing industry.
David Faurschou, a Tory Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and part of the Portage la Prairie Constituency, told TicketNews that his proposed bill, the Amusements Amendment Act Bill 237, does not prohibit ticket resale in the province.
“The Bill does not outlaw those engaged in secondary seller business, what it does is try to provide is a balance between direct sales to the public and those wanting to acquire tickets for the purpose of resale,” Faurschou said. “A window of 48 hours is provided for direct consumer sales after which secondary sellers may acquire any number of tickets.”
The proposed bill stipulates:
-No secondary seller shall sell, or offer to sell, a ticket of admission to a place of amusement unless the secondary seller has actual possession of the ticket.
-No secondary seller shall sell, or offer to sell, a ticket of admission to a place of amusement unless the ticket clearly identifies on its face the row and seat number — and if applicable, the section number or other seat identifier — that are assigned to the ticket. This subsection does not apply if the ticket is for admission to an amusement for which there is no assigned seating.
-No secondary seller shall sell, or offer to sell, a ticket of admission to a place of amusement unless: (a) a period of 48 hours has elapsed since tickets for the particular amusement were first offered for sale by a primary seller at face value to the general public; and (b) the particular ticket had been offered for sale by a primary seller at face value to the general public throughout the entirety of that 48-hour period.
While a hearing on the bill is scheduled for next week, Faurschou said that he does not expect the bill to reach the floor of the legislative until the fall at the earliest to give officials additional time to study the issue.
The bill resembles similar proposals from officials in the U.S., and follows months of criticism leveled at the secondary ticket market, and particularly the roles of Ticketmaster Entertainment and its TicketsNow subsidiary, throughout the country. TicketsNow has stopped reselling tickets to events in Manitoba.
“My motivation was sparked by complaints received within my responsibilities as official opposition Consumer and Corporate Affairs critic,” Faurschou said. “Many of our most popular events here in Winnipeg had extremely short sell outs leaving many with the only option to purchase their event tickets from secondary ticket sellers.”
