Some of the UK’s most prolific and successful ticket touts appear to
be rebranding their organisations as the industry braces for
investigations by the competition watchdog and the taxman in the UK.
Moves among touts to alter their public profiles follow increased scrutiny, including an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) into whether they are breaking the law by failing to disclose
their identity on ticket resale sites. HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
is also examining the industry after MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee demanded an inquiry into touts’ tax affairs.
The glare of publicity has prompted a flurry of activity among the
most powerful operators, who have developed a stranglehold on tickets
for in-demand events, such as an upcoming tour by U2 and the hip-hop musical Hamilton.
Andrew Newman, revealed as one of the UK’s most successful touts in an investigation by the Observer, has since changed his company’s name from Newman Corporation to North Financial Group (NFG) and has also deleted his Twitter account.
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Ticket resale websites and the touts who use them could be fined
after the competition watchdog launched an investigation into how the
best seats are harvested and then sold on at huge mark-ups before fans
can buy them at face value.
The Competition and Market Authority said it was examining suspected
breaches of consumer law after reviewing the four secondary ticket
companies – Viagogo, StubHub, GetMeIn and Seatwave – that sell on
previously purchased tickets.
It will examine several areas of concern in the secondary ticketing
market, including whether touts use “connections” at resale websites to
gain an advantage over fans, such as information that helps them decide
which tickets to market aggressively.
The probe follows increasing scrutiny of the sector by MPs concerned
about the inflated prices at which tickets are being sold. Earlier this
month hundreds of tickets to see Adele next summer appeared on resale websites for up to £9,000, the latest in a string of in-demand events seized on by the UK’s most successful touts.
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