The World Cup will test Ontario’s resolve to stop ticket scalping. Good luck with that. Here’s why.
Earlier this year, it became illegal for anyone to charge more than face value for a ticket to an entertainment or sporting event in Ontario. The fines for breaking this law are substantial.
It’s a silly law because there’s no real way to enforce it. There will always be a demand for hot shows, meaning that any law will drive ticket reselling underground to areas where there is no consumer protection. Resellers/scalpers outside Ontario’s borders aren’t covered by the law because the province’s jurisdiction doesn’t extend any further.
And now we have the World Cup.
The Ontario Government has increased fines for scalping tickets to $25,000. Premier Doug Ford wants FIFA to know that it is not exempt from these penalties.
But here’s how FIFA has been getting around scalping their own tickets.
- FIFA puts a block of tickets on sale. Interest is gauged.
- If demand is high, some of those tickets are removed from sale and parked for a while.
- Once the remaining tickets in the original block sell out, FIFA takes the withdrawn tickets off the shelf and relists them at higher prices.
Since FIFA is the original seller of the tickets, it dodges the Ontario law on scalping. Sneaky, huh?
