In Victoria, Australia, it is illegal to make profit off of resale tickets, and to put an end to this act, the state is authorizing “ticket cops” to patrol major events before shows and on ticketing websites.
According to the 2009 act, which was renamed as Major Events Acts 2009, it is illegal to sell tickets for 10 percent or more than face value in the cities of Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, and Ballarat at ‘declared major events.’ Although this pertains to large sporting fixtures, the Victorian government announced last November that they planned to extend this legislation to include concerts and live entertainment events. John Eren, sports minister, said these proposals will “give fans of all types a fairer go and bring even more events to Victoria,” according to IQ Mag.
As of May 1, the Australian state’s budget now allows these ticket officers the power to seize these resale tickets, whether it’s outside a major event, or online at sites like Viagogo and Gumtree, the Melbourne Age reports. If caught violating the law, sellers can be fined up to A$475,000 (US$345,000).
Scalping will now be banned at an increased number of events, including the AFL Grand Final, the annual Australian football match in September. However, according to Hack, Eren said in 2017 that costs to cover all of the events across the state would be “very high.”
“It will be at the discretion of the Minister and, as you can appreciate, we have lots of events in that happen Victoria,” he said. “It will be dependent on the size of the event, how popular it is, and not all events need this legislation but it’s a handy tool to prevent scalpers from ripping people off.”
It is unclear at this time which concerts and shows will be deemed as “declared major events.”
