Industry News

Bots legislation set for discussion in House of Lords

Legislation that could make the use of ticket bots illegal and punishable by unlimited fines will be discussed in the House of Lords today (Wednesday).

Amendments to the Digital Economy Bill include a series of new clauses relating to bots, most notably making the use of software to bypass limits on maximum ticket purchases set by event organisers a criminal offence.

Two other proposed amendments to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 include a requirement for secondary ticketing websites to show the booking reference of the ticket and provide information to potential buyers on whether there is a resale restriction.

The House of Lords session can be viewed here from 3.30pm

The session is part of the Second Chamber’s report stage, with the Digital Economy Bill then set to return to the House of Commons before most likely becoming law by the end of May.

While the Digital Economy Bill has the support of many, See Tickets chief executive Rob Wilmshurst told last week’s parliamentary committee hearing into ticketing abuse that he was pessimistic about the success of a legislative crackdown on the use of bots.

“I am not a firm believer,” said Wilmshurst. “We have technologies in place that allow us to spot this type of stuff and we don’t see it. We have added more technology to thwart bots and we don’t see conversion rates dropping between the ratio of custom to people actually transacting.”

Last week, Queue-it chief executive Niels Sodemann argued that venues and ticketing platforms cannot simply rely on legislation and law enforcement agencies to help them beat bot-using scalpers.

Queue-it is a sponsor of Ticketing Technology Forum, which takes place in Dublin, Ireland, on April 5-6. Ticketing Technology Forum is a high-level networking and knowledge exchange event designed to address the specific needs of key executives engaged in the development and implementation of entertainment ticketing solutions. Click here for more details