Senator Supports Crackdown On Scalpers

Pollstar Staff
2:05 am, Friday, 08/19/2016
News

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York is calling for a federal crackdown on ticket scalpers using computer programs to jack up the prices of popular Broadway shows, concerts and sporting events, urging support for legislation he introduced to restrict them.

The New York democrat, citing support from Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Broadway’s “Hamilton,” says cyber scalpers have been using bots to buy and resell tickets to that play anywhere from $500 to more than $2,000 a ticket.

The normal price is about $189. Schumer says bots have gotten “completely out of control” and can purchase thousands of tickets in fractions of a second.