Did you know that scalpers can inflate ticket prices by over 1,000%? Learn how they do it, how to protect your platform from ticket scalping in 2025, and how to keep fans happy.
Ticket scalping—or selling event tickets at higher prices than their original face value—is a widespread activity. Some argue that scalping is a legitimate form of business, while others consider it fraudulent. In fact, ticket scalping can be viewed as both a business practice and a form of exploitation, depending on the context and jurisdiction.
In February 2025, three people, including a teenager, were arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud after allegedly selling tickets to the Kai Tak Sports Park opening ceremony at inflated prices.
That same month in Taiwan, 11 people were indicted over an alleged NT$43.54 million ($1.8 million) ticket scalping scheme. Prosecutors stated that since 2016, the group had illegally acquired 13,244 tickets for over 22 events, with organizers continuing to violate regulations despite stricter anti-scalping penalties introduced in the 2023 amendments to the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries Act—highlighting the need for stronger enforcement.
Indeed, ticket scalping can be highly profitable, especially for high-demand events. Data shows that scalpers make hundreds to thousands of dollars per event, depending on demand, which makes this activity highly lucrative.
It’s also estimated that about 10% of tickets sold in the primary market are later resold by scalpers or other third parties.
However, scalping often makes it difficult for genuine fans to afford tickets. This practice is seen as unfair by many consumers. For example, 64% of British consumers expressed concerns over dynamic pricing and scalping.
Let’s discuss in detail what ticket scalping is, whether it’s illegal, and how it influences fans and the ticketing industry as a whole.
Ticket scalping is the practice of purchasing tickets for an event and reselling them at a higher price than the original face value. This is typically done to capitalize on the demand for high-profile events, such as concerts, sports games, theater performances, and festivals. Scalping has become a controversial issue, especially with the rise of online reselling platforms and automated tools that make the process faster and more widespread.
While some argue that ticket scalping is a form of free-market enterprise, others see it as an unfair practice that takes advantage of fans and undermines the integrity of the ticketing system.
Ticket scalping uses the imbalance between ticket supply and demand. When a popular event goes on sale, there is often limited availability, and tickets can sell out quickly. Scalpers purchase tickets at face value and resell them at a higher price, exploiting arbitrage pricing.
In ticket scalping, arbitrage pricing refers to the practice of leveraging price differences between markets. Scalpers can take advantage of the difference in price between primary and secondary ticket sales. In primary sales, tickets are sold at face value, while secondary platforms allow reselling at much higher prices. By purchasing tickets on primary platforms at face value and reselling them on secondary platforms at inflated prices, scalpers can pocket the price difference, often earning substantial profits.
Scalpers use several methods to acquire tickets. In the past, they might have physically lined up at box offices or purchased tickets over the phone. However, in the digital age, the process has become more sophisticated and automated.
Ticket scalping bots are automated programs that can purchase tickets in bulk at lightning speed, bypassing normal user interfaces. These bots can easily secure large quantities of tickets before most regular customers even have a chance to click “buy.” Indeed, around 58% of consumers report being outcompeted by bots when trying to purchase tickets for events.
Scalping bots typically operate by constantly refreshing ticket sale pages and completing the checkout process faster than human buyers. They can even input payment information instantly, securing multiple tickets for resale. This automated advantage has sparked widespread concern, as bots can easily dominate ticket sales for events with limited availability.
According to the data released by the New York Attorney General, at least tens of thousands of tickets per year are being acquired using bots. The same report suggests that scalpers “mark up the price of those tickets—by an estimated 49% on average, but sometimes by more than 1,000%—yielding easy profits. In at least one circumstance, a ticket was resold at 7,000% of face value. Finally, some brokers sell “speculative tickets,” meaning they sell tickets that they do not have but expect to be able to purchase after locking in a buyer. Speculative tickets are a risk for consumers and also drive up prices even before tickets are released.”
To combat this, many event organizers and ticketing companies are introducing CAPTCHA tests, requiring additional steps to prove that users are human, but bots are continuously evolving to bypass these barriers. More than 70% of bots mimic human behavior to evade detection, which makes them difficult to identify.
The legality of ticket scalping varies from place to place. In some countries and regions, scalping is strictly regulated or even illegal.
For instance, certain US states and European countries impose laws that limit the resale price of tickets, or prohibit selling tickets at a markup altogether.
In Australia, ticket scalping is not regulated at the federal level. However, several states have introduced new legislation or strengthened existing laws to combat the practice, extending beyond the secondary ticket market. For example, New South Wales and South Australia have banned the use of automated software to bulk-purchase tickets from the primary market—New South Wales implementing the ban in 2017, followed by South Australia in 2018. In Victoria, organizers of major sporting events declared by the government must obtain approval for their ticketing schemes, ensuring compliance with guidelines set by the Minister. Queensland was also among the first states to enact anti-scalping laws.
Hong Kong in 2018 adopted nominative ticketing as part of broader measures to address ticket scalping, a persistent issue. Nominative ticketing is a system where tickets are issued in the buyer’s name, requiring identification for event entry. This method links each ticket to the purchaser’s identity, making it harder to resell tickets on secondary markets or use counterfeit tickets. Additionally, Hong Kong imposes caps on the number of tickets each person can purchase per transaction (e.g., 2–10 tickets) and per credit card, preventing bulk purchases by scalpers. Tickets must also be collected closer to the event date, reducing the window for resale.
In contrast, many other places have looser regulations, and ticket scalping remains largely unregulated. However, even in jurisdictions where scalping is legal, practices such as using bots to purchase tickets in bulk, are often illicit. In some cases, scalpers can be prosecuted for fraud, violation of resale limits, or breaching platform terms of service.
Resale platforms have made it easier than ever for scalpers to resell tickets. Ticketing platforms are a marketplace where individuals can buy and sell tickets, often without much oversight or regulation. While these sites can offer convenience for consumers, they also create an environment in which ticket prices can easily soar above the original value.
Though some resale platforms claim to monitor ticket prices and prevent excessive markups, enforcement of these policies is often not 100% efficient, which allows scalpers to profit unchecked.
If regulations against ticket scalping are lax in the jurisdiction where ticketing platforms operate, these platforms should implement anti-bot measures themselves. Scalping damages their reputation, as consumers associate them with unfair practices and poor experiences. Without robust anti-bot measures, ticketing platforms risk losing credibility and market share to competitors that prioritize fairness and security. As a result, many platforms are already adopting multi-layered anti-bot strategies—including CAPTCHAs, purchase limits, and identity verification—to maintain a bot-free environment.
In November 2022, Ticketmaster faced significant backlash during the ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The platform crashed due to unprecedented demand, and scalpers bought large numbers of tickets, reselling them at exorbitant prices—sometimes up to 70 times the face value. Fans and consumer groups accused Ticketmaster of deceitful practices, leading to several lawsuits alleging fraud and antitrust violations. The controversy highlighted issues with the ticketing industry, including monopolistic practices and high fees. As a result, in 2024 almost 400 Taylor Swift fans filed a lawsuit in California against Ticketmaster, accusing the company of price gouging and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
During the ticket sales for Oasis’s reunion tour, fans experienced similar frustrations, including long wait times and high prices. Tickets initially priced around £74 ($94) quickly appeared on resale sites for significantly higher prices, sometimes reaching £6,000 ($7,600). Moreover, hundreds of Oasis fans reported being scammed while trying to buy tickets, with victims losing an average of £346 ($440). The scams were predominantly initiated on social media platforms like Facebook. The ticketing process was described as “broken” by a resale site executive, highlighting the chaos and inefficiencies in the system during the Oasis ticket sales.
Among other well-known scalping cases are:
Ticket scalping creates several negative consequences for both fans and the event industry:
There are several strategies that can help combat ticket scalping:
