| 1/9/2008 |
Tassoni bills target Internet ticket scalping
STATE HOUSE – Why stand in line for tickets when it’s easier to click it, especially if you can turn a quick profit.
Event-goers have gotten used to purchasing tickets online, even if the convenience comes with an additional processing fee/service charge.
Scalpers, too, have taken to the new method of purchasing tickets. Using the Internet, they can purchase larger numbers of tickets, which means lots more profit on the scalping end of the business.
Current Rhode Island law prohibits ticket scalping, but allows ticker “resellers,” such as recognized Internet ticket sites, to charge a reasonable fee – defined in law as not more than $3 or 10 percent of the price printed on the ticket.
The loophole – and one that Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. (D-Dist. 22, Smithfield, North Smithfield) is trying to fix through new legislation – allows individuals who have purchased large numbers of tickets for various events to resell them via the Internet, through sites such as eBay or StubHub.com. For a recent event at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center – a Hannah Montana concert – tickets originally priced from $21 to $63 were going, online, for prices ranging from $229 to $500.
The legislation proposed by Senator Tassoni, (2008 - S2023), would prohibit the online purchase of tickets to events in Rhode Island for purposes of reselling at prices that exceed what is already allowed under law. A second bill, (2008 - S2033), adds language to the current ticket speculator law to provide that Internet sales of tickets are not exempt from the $3 or 10 percent resale price cap.
One of the founders of StubHub defended his business and disparaged Rhode Island’s anti-scalping law, saying it is demand, not scalpers, that driver the prices up.
Senator Tassoni disagrees. “This is not about demand, it is about greed. These businesses can electronically buy thousands of tickets and make a killing rather than a reasonable profit for reselling. The performers at these events don’t care, because they are making their share no matter what. It is the people who want to attend these shows who are getting cheated by this practice because there aren’t any $29 tickets left at the box office. Consumers are being forced, if they want to see a show or a sporting event, to pay an astronomical amount via Internet so some middleman with a computer program can make a bundle. That’s just outrageous.”
The Tassoni bill would also require that any person or business buying more than 10 tickets online for an event to sign a written statement providing their name and address and an affirmation that the tickets being purchased are not being resold in violation of the state’s anti-scalping law.
Both bills have been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
For more information, contact:
Randall T. Szyba, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-2457 |
LEGISLATIVE INFO
