March 30, 200620 yr http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14218874.htm Scalping may become legal Lawmakers are trying to change a decades-old law that bans Floridians from selling event tickets for more than $1 over their face value. BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA jmooney@MiamiHerald.com ALAN FREUND/MIAMI HERALD STAFF A HIT: Would Marlins season tickets, distributed this week, be sold for a profit? TALLAHASSEE - Matthew Adams is getting desperate. He has less than a month to sell six tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. He recently posted the tickets for sale on the popular website Craigslist.org. The asking price: $75 each -- exactly what he paid. Even though Adams lives in Virginia, he knows he'd be committing a crime in Florida if he tried to sell the tickets for more than $1 over their face value. But Florida lawmakers want to change that. A measure filed in both chambers of the Legislature would drastically change the 61-year-old ticket-scalping laws, allowing Floridians to resell tickets at any price to sporting events, theater shows and concerts on authorized websites that offer consumer protection guarantees, such as full refunds if the event is canceled or the tickets are not delivered in time. The measure comes as Internet ticket sales are skyrocketing -- some legal, others not. ''There's a current market out there that is booming,'' said state Rep. Marcelo Llorente, a Miami Republican who introduced the House version of the bill. ``We want to be able to offer the consumers the protections they deserve and the ability to resell their tickets for whatever price the market will bear.'' The proposed changes also will affect scalpers who stand outside arenas and other event venues hawking tickets. Current law says someone caught selling an admission ticket for more than $1 over its original selling price can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. If the law is changed, those same people will make money: Scalpers who make hand-to-hand transactions would be able to resell tickets for 25 percent over face value. Proponents of the measure say it will do away with laws that limit free enterprise. ''A free market is by far the best for the consumer,'' said Gary Adler, general counsel for the National Association of Ticket Brokers, a nonprofit group that represents the ticket brokering industry. Current law says licensed ticket brokers are exempt from the $1 cap as long as they resell the tickets as part of a travel package. That exemption allows many of them to resell tickets at exorbitant prices, Llorente said. The proposed bills wouldn't affect them. Llorente and his co-sponsor, state Rep. John Stargel, a Lakeland Republican, won unanimous support for their bill from a House committee Wednesday. It must pass through another committee before it can be voted on by the entire House. Its Senate counterpart, filed by Sens. Mike Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, and Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican, has passed through two committees. If approved by one more, it can be voted on by the full Senate. The bills have won support from online ticket retailers, such as Ticketmaster and StubHub. Jeffrey Sharkey, a lobbyist for Ticketmaster, which already has anti-fraud measures in place, said, ``This bill really does advance consumer protection.'' Among those who may benefit if the law is enacted are season ticket-holders to sporting events, such as Rosy Guerra, a Coral Gables resident who has tickets to all Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins home games. There are days when Guerra is unable to make a game. Rather than giving the ticket to a friend or client, she would be able to post the tickets online on an authorized website -- for whatever price she wants. ''I would go for that,'' she said, ``as long as it's legal.''
March 30, 200620 yr So it would be legal for someone to buy 30 tickets with the plan to sell 28 of them for ridiculous prices, thus blocking 28 tickets from people wanting to buy them at face? Meh. In the individual situation of having some tickets to a prime event and then not being able to go, this is great. But from the overall situation of people buying more tickets than they need just to make money, this is gonna block people from buying tickets.
March 30, 200620 yr It's legal here.. not in Illinois though. People stand by the i-74 bridge on the Iowa side to sell tickets to the Mark on the Illannoy side.
March 30, 200620 yr it's legal here and illegal in other places i've lived notice zero difference - as long as there is demand there will always be scalpers - no different that "ticket brokers" that currently operate either
March 31, 200620 yr They don't need to worry about that. For Marlin/Panther games scalp tickets are never sold for $1 over face value.
March 31, 200620 yr Panthers tickets from scalpers are sold for like $20 under face value :lol . The $20 tickets are even sold for $20 under face value. :whistle
April 1, 200620 yr i don't see what the problem is with this. if people complain about not wanting to pay so much for tickets, buy the damn tickets when they go on sale. As for selling them over face value, thats fine, the tickets at that point aren't worth whats printed on there, they are worth what the customer is willing to pay for it.
April 1, 200620 yr Scalping Marlins tickets is almost as bad as scalping Temple football tickets which i've seen happen.
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