British Columbia (BC) is considering legislation to tackle touting and price inflation on music and sport tickets.
Solicitor general Mike Farnworth said his staff in the Canadian province are looking at a variety of options that will provide event-goers with fair pricing and access to tickets.
The BC government is considering what other provinces are doing to clamp down on scalpers, with Ontario having passed a bill recently that bans bots and caps resale prices and the UK government looking to make the use of ticket bots a criminal offence with unlimited fines.
“We’re looking at what other jurisdictions have been doing in regard to ticket resale legislation, including Ontario and the UK. At the same time, policy work is being done in my ministry to come up with options so we have something that is effective and works for British Columbia,” Farnworth said in a statement.
Music commentator and publicist Eric Alper, whom the Ontario government consulted as part of its legislation development, said there are dozens, if not hundreds, of businesses using the bots around the world.
“Sometimes [the companies are] based in the province. Sometimes they’re based in countries that aren’t even on this continent,” Alper said, according to Times Colonist.
“How do you stop a company that might be in Russia with their server in Africa from buying tickets for a show in Toronto? Those places are getting the very best tickets on the market, when normally, it should be going to the fans.
“It’s not going to solve the problem, but it’s a really great first step into reassuring customers that the government and the police are on their side to try to stop this problem.”
Image: Stokpic
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