The government has announced it will stage an inquiry into the growth of ticket touting in the music, cultural and sporting sectors, and will seek input from those industries in its investigations.
The inquiry follows those previously reported previous discussions between government ministers and event promoters regarding the growth of touting, especially online touting. Both ministers and the live entertainment sector have expressed concern at the increasing number of touts buying up tickets to in demand events and reselling them at a marked up price, though the government has in the past stressed that it does not intend to make touting itself illegal. Rather, they have tended to look to the live sector to introduce anti-touting measures - and there have been discussions regarding what these measures could be - though some in the live sector are of the opinion only a change in the law will overcome the growing touting problem.
The new inquiry, to be chaired by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, will in essence formalise those past discussions, though presumably this time the discussions might actually lead to a change in government policy on the need for new laws to restrict touting. Topics due to be considered by the inquiry include the underlying causes of ticket touting, its impact on performers, promoters and the public, the impact of the internet on touting and, crucially, whether the resale of tickets for profit should be permitted in principle and, if not, whether promoters could stop touting through stricter terms and conditions, or whether new laws should be introduced to explicitly ban it.
Key players in the UK live sector welcomed the inquiry, but aired some caution that this inquiry, like past government led discussions on the issue, might not achieve a great deal. The BBC quotes Live Nation UK's MD Stuart Galbraith as saying that: "I have to say that I'm very more cynical about the government's intentions to do anything about ticket touting than I was at the start of this process".