The B.C. government is looking for ways to stop scalpers and ticket bots from scooping up tickets to music and sports events and jacking up the prices.
Legislation that ensures fair ticket pricing likely won’t be introduced until the fall as the government first wants to ask the public what measures they want to see put in place.
Anyone who has bought or tried to buy tickets for live events or anyone who has resold tickets is asked to answer a survey at engage.gov.bc.ca/ticketbuying. The survey will be available until March 27 at 4 p.m.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said the government is aware that people are fed up with “the unfair way in which scalpers get the tickets, bots get the tickets. It seems that anyone other than regular British Columbians get the tickets.”
In addition to the public consultation, the Public Safety Ministry is looking at what measures have been put in place in other provinces and in the U.S. and Europe, Farnworth said.
A report is expected to be released in June, he said, with the goal of introducing legislation in the fall.
Legislation came into effect Jan. 1 in Ontario that bans “scalper bots” that buy tickets in bulk, and limits resale prices to 50 per cent above face value.
Farnworth said a cap on resale prices “is an option and that’s one of the things we want to hear from British Columbians about, as well as the industry. There’s lots to this, it’s an important issue and we want to make sure we get it done right.”
Public frustration with ticket scalpers reached a boiling point in 2016 when Tragically Hip fans were shut out of tickets to see frontman Gord Downie’s farewell tour, before his death from brain cancer.
Music commentator and publicist Eric Alper, who advised the Ontario government when it was developing legislation, said he’s confident British Columbians will be shouting the same message as Ontario residents: “People will show widespread support for more transparent sales and more rules for resellers.”
The Ontario government’s public consultation drew 34,700 responses and helped shape the government’s legislation, he said.
He said the jury is still out on whether Ontario’s new law has enough teeth to crack down on bots located outside Canada or companies that are making a high enough profit that the fine isn’t a deterrence.
Alper said he went on ticket resale website StubHub shortly after the legislation came into effect and saw Elton John tickets listed at up to five times the original ticket price.
“There is no fine big enough to make these people stop,” he said. “If they end up shutting down that company, another two companies will pop up and say there’s a space in the market because that company just went down.”
A Canada-wide Angus Reid poll showed that four out of five Canadians support banning software bots that jump the queue when tickets go on sale.
The poll showed that 80 per cent of Canadians think purchasing tickets solely to resell them is unfair and 50 per cent believe governments should ensure fair ticket prices.
