Ticket Scalping is Getting Out of Control. What’s the Law in Texas?
If you've ever tried to buy tickets online to a really hot event, you know how quickly it sells out. After 15 or 20 minutes (maybe less) you'll see a message that says, "your event has sold out," or "only single tickets remain."
Ticket resellers snatch up the tickets quickly, and post them online a few minutes later for double, triple, and sometimes ten times the original price. Is this fair? What is Texas doing about it?
There is no law in Texas against reselling tickets, but cities can pass ordinances to crack down on ticket scalping inside city limits. In Houston, there is a city ordinance making it illegal to sell tickets on public property like sidewalks, streets, sports arenas, or parks. That's why we see so many newspaper and Craigslist ads for tickets. Scalping is illegal in Arlington too, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Thinking about the big picture, ticket reselling is big business. I've even heard some of the big resellers have special software that allows them to speed up the process of securing tickets, and allows them to snatch them all up before average fans like you and me have a chance to buy any. Is this fair? Not only to fans, but to the artists? Third parties are probably making more money than the artists are on their concerts.
We'll keep an eye on the law in Texas and let you know if anything changes. If you have ideas about how to fix the issue, write your Congressman! Elton John would probably appreciate it.