Isn’t ticket touting illegal?
In some instances, yes. For example, the re-sale of football tickets has been banned in the UK since 1994. However, unlike countries such as France or Norway, the re-selling of live music tickets for profit is not against UK law.
(However, it is illegal to use automated software to bulk-buy tickets for commercial gain, and it is fraudulent to buy tickets using multiple identifies.)
Theoretically, there is a variety of legislation in place – including the Consumer Rights Act 2015, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation & Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, and the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 – that should help protect audiences and ensure secondary ticketing websites operate with greater transparency.
Thanks to concerted action from Government, the CMA and National Trading Standards (NTS), such legislation is now starting to be enforced – however, there is still some way before this market is transformed.