Reselling tickets for profit set to be banned in UK

The UK government is set to make the resale of tickets for profit illegal, in what is set to become the country’s toughest-ever crackdown on ticket touting. Ministers are expected to announce the decision on Wednesday (November 19), the BBC reports, following years of pressure from artists, consumer groups and fans angered by soaring secondary-market prices.

The move represents a significant escalation from earlier proposals, which would have allowed tickets to be resold at up to 30% above face value. Under the new plan, tickets for concerts, sports events and theatre performances may only be resold at their original purchase price, though resale platforms will still be permitted to charge capped service fees. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be responsible for enforcing the legislation, which will also target industrial-scale resale operations and the use of bots to acquire large volumes of tickets.

The decision delivers on a core Labour election pledge and comes after prominent artists – including Radiohead, Coldplay, Sam Fender, Dua Lipa, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey, New Order and Mark Knopfler – publicly urged the government to act. In an open letter issued last week, the group called current secondary ticketing practices ​“extortionate and pernicious”, arguing that touts prevent genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre and sports they love. They were joined by organisations such as Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2 and the Football Supporters’ Association.

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Investigations by Trading Standards have previously uncovered tickets being marked up by as much as six times their original cost, while the CMA has reported that resale prices typically exceed face value by over 50%. According to research from Virgin Media O2, UK fans pay an additional £145 million annually due to touting, with traders selling more than 100 tickets a year accounting for over 80% of resale stock at some events.

The government review, which began in January and ran until April, had also considered implementing a licensing system for resale platforms but ultimately rejected the idea. Instead, the new rules will make platforms legally liable when sellers list tickets above face value, closing loopholes that ministers feared would drive transactions onto less regulated channels. Social media platforms will be subject to the same restrictions to prevent the emergence of a grey market.

Industry reactions have been mixed. Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster welcomed the move, noting that Ticketmaster has already capped resale prices at face value since 2018. ​“This is another major step forward for fans,” Ticketmaster said, adding that the policy would help ​“crack down on exploitative touting”.

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Resale ticket websites Viagogo and StubHub International, however, criticised the decision. Viagogo argued that price caps in other countries have pushed consumers toward unregulated sites where fraud is ​“nearly four times higher”, while StubHub International warned the reforms could drive transactions underground. Shares in StubHub, Viagogo’s parent company, dropped 14% on Monday following reports of the planned legislation.

Calls for reform intensified last year during the chaotic sale of tickets for Oasis’ long-awaited reunion tour. Fans were outraged by ​‘dynamic pricing’, which saw prices fluctuate sharply in response to demand. The backlash was so severe that experts warned the practice might breach consumer law, prompting investigations by both the European Commission and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

According to the Financial Times, the new rules could cut average resale prices by £40 per ticket, ultimately saving fans tens of millions of pounds a year. If approved this week, the legislation will usher in a fundamental overhaul of the UK’s secondary ticketing market, and mark a major victory for artists and fans who have long campaigned for change.

Ella Glossop is Huck’s social editor. Follow her on Bluesky.

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