Scalping law fails to prosecute anyone for inflating ticket prices since its 2013 introduction
SCALPING laws provide so little protection for consumers that not a single person has been prosecuted for selling tickets at inflated prices since the law was introduced in 2013.
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SCALPING laws provide so little protection for consumers that not a single person has been prosecuted for selling tickets at inflated prices since the law was introduced in 2013.
This is despite ticket prices, especially for events like Adele, being inflated by up to 700 per cent.
Critics have blamed the failure on a government policy to wait for promoters to ask for a show to be declared a “major event” by Tourism Minister Leon Bignell, which he rarely does – meaning authorities cannot act to stop the rip-offs.
The Major Events Act came into force more than three years ago, but large Adelaide events such as the Adele concert at Adelaide Oval – which attracted a record crowd of 70,000 – have not been protected under the legislation.
Mr Bignell’s office confirmed there were no records of anyone being prosecuted for any event.
The Act makes it an offence for an unauthorised person to sell tickets for a declared major event at a price higher than 10 per cent of the face value. It carries fines of up to $25,000.
Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire said the State Government was not taking the issue seriously, despite Parliament agreeing it was a problem by passing the Act.
“The government needs to take this type of behaviour as a serious breach of consumers’ rights,” he said.
“The fraudulent intention of scalpers discourages the general public from attending events, which is why the legislation was implemented.”
A search by Mr Brokenshire revealed no one had been fined for scalping at any event, even those declared major events.
But Mr Bignell said offering tickets at a higher price did not mean they had been bought.
“People can put outlandish prices on tickets they try to sell, it doesn’t mean anyone would pay for them. We always advise people not to buy tickets from secondary sources,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Bignell said he would support changes proposed by Senator Nick Xenophon, who will introduce federal laws to stop scalpers using robots to buy tickets in bulk before on-selling them.
“We welcome any changes that may be made at the federal level to prevent people using devices to buy tickets in bulk before individuals can place their orders,’’ he said.
Senator Xenophon said it was clear the SA law was a failure. “The Major Events hurdle, where it has to be declared a major event before authorities will act, is a major problem for consumers in SA,” he said. “It is too narrow and people should be protected for any event.”
Mr Brokenshire’s search reveals that no person had been fined for scalping at any event, even those which had been declared major events under the Act to protect customers.
The government argues that this is because scalpers are quickly told to remove the tickets from sale when events have been declared “major”, meaning no offence is committed.
