Contradictions within the Criminalisation of Ticket Touting: What Should Be the Role of the Law?
Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, Vol. 3, 2008
14 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2009 Last revised: 10 Oct 2009
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
The issue of ticket touting has recently become a very visible one with the advent of online trading environments such as eBay and a growth generally of the secondary ticket market. The Government has expressed concern about the issue and has recently held four ticket touting summits with leading ticket agencies, theater producers, music promoters, eBay, and sporting governing bodies amongst others. Ticket touting was originally criminalized for football in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, and those provisions have been fortified recently in the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006.
This article critically evaluates the arguments for criminalizing touting, particularly through the imposition of strict liability, and argues that the Government should have considered the case for decriminalization or, at the very least, amended the provisions to make them fairer for football fans.
Keywords: criminal law, sport, ticket touting, policy
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