Politician Denies Scalping

Ticketek slammed New Zealand politician Trevor Mallard over reports he bought four NZ$95 (US$79.40) tickets to the Homegrown festival and then sold them for $164 ($137.20) each.

“We are not happy,” said Ticketek managing director Brendon Bainbridge. “It breaches our website’s conditions of sale.”

Mallard denied being a scalper, saying, “I bought the tickets intending to go, and then discovered I couldn’t.”

It was later discovered Mallard also resold tickets to the festival in two previous years. As Sports Minister in 2007, Mallard initiated the Major Events Management Act, which facilitated fines of $5,000 for commercial scalpers.