The following statement can be attributed to Ticket Policy Forum Executive Director Brian Berry:
“It’s disheartening to see the UK government pursue a quick-sounding political fix that ultimately fails the fans we serve. Government-mandated price controls may sound like a pro-consumer move, but in practice they’ve made it harder and not easier for people to safely and affordably get into the events they love.
“Fans deserve to buy and resell tickets on their own terms, in trusted, transparent marketplaces. History and real-world experience in the UK and beyond show government-imposed price caps force that activity into unregulated shadow markets where fraud runs rampant, protections vanish, and fans are regularly ripped off, left with fake tickets and no recourse. Ireland’s experience offers a clear warning, where reports of fraud tripled after resale price caps were introduced in 2021. These policies don’t protect fans, they expose them.
“These policies also reveal a broader misunderstanding of modern ticketing. Primary ticket sellers increasingly use dynamic pricing, raising prices based on demand. Capping the resale of tickets that consumers have already purchased does nothing to curb these primary-market price hikes. Instead, it only restricts the very competition that helps keep dominant industry monopolists in check and deprives consumers of more choices and transparency when buying tickets.
“Resale marketplaces play an important consumer-protection role by providing safe, trusted environments where tickets can be bought and sold, often at prices below their original cost. Suppressing this legitimate activity will not make tickets cheaper or more accessible; it will simply make it harder and more costly for fans to attend the events they love.
“A robust, transparent resale market is essential to a fair and functioning ticketing ecosystem. Policies that ignore this reality risk hurting the very people they claim to protect.”