The Guardian (12/09/17) by Rob Davies
The West End opening of the blockbuster musical "Hamilton" in London has driven ticket prices as high as $8,000, amid warnings that ticket resale sites may be violating the law, and buyers of such tickets could be denied admission. Production company Delfont Mackintosh has imposed a strict ban on resale for the show in an attempt to prevent seasoned scalpers from scooping up tickets to sell for highly inflated prices. However, this past weekend Viagogo was promoting dozens of tickets days before "Hamilton's" debut. Thus far Viagogo appears to be ignoring directives from the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority, which has been probing secondary ticketing since 2016. Those directives include stating clearly if tickets include terms and conditions that might see buyers refused entry, yet a bogus purchase yielded no such information, despite a clear warning on Ticketmaster's official "Hamilton" ticket website. The site also stresses customers may lose their ticket if they fail to complete the transaction immediately or that tickets are likely to sell out soon. Viagogo has responded, "These types of entry restrictions are highly unfair and in our view, unenforceable and illegal." Industry insiders say the rewards offered are so attractive that scalpers are likely to be willing to show up at the venue to collect the tickets before handing them over to their illicit customers.
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