Photo by Josh Sorenson
The UK government is preparing to introduce sweeping legislation that will outlaw the resale of event tickets above face value – an unprecedented move aimed at dismantling the long-standing secondary ticketing market. The new framework targets professional touts, third-party marketplaces such as Viagogo and StubHub, and the growing trade of inflated tickets across social media platforms. Under the proposed law, individuals will be prohibited from selling tickets for more than their original purchase price, while regulated resale platforms may apply service fees only within tightly enforced caps designed to prevent artificial price inflation. The legislation goes further, banning resellers from offering more tickets than they could have legally acquired from primary vendors; breaches will carry legal liability enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority.
This marks a significant escalation from the UK’s existing 30 percent resale cap, introduced earlier this year during a consultation led by culture minister Lisa Nandy. Since then, major secondary ticketing companies have pushed back, warning that price restrictions could drive fans toward unregulated markets. In statements to The Guardian, StubHub International argued that capped pricing on “regulated marketplaces” will fuel black-market activity, while a Viagogo spokesperson cited higher fraud rates in countries like Ireland and Australia as evidence that price caps fail to protect consumers.
The UK’s intervention aligns with a global shift toward stricter oversight. In September, the United States Federal Trade Commission, alongside seven state attorneys general, filed suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging “illegal ticket resale tactics” and claiming the companies generated “hundreds of millions of dollars” by marking up tickets obtained through illicit broker channels.
