Danes Investigate Ticket Scandals

The UK’s TV investigation into the workings of the secondary ticketing business appears to have inspired Denmark’s TV2 to look into what’s going on in the Scandinavian market.

Although reselling tickets for profit is illegal under Danish law, the secondary market has managed to grow private speculators and online sites owned by companies registered in countries where it’s still permitted.

The TV network’s “Operation X,” a regular consumer programme similar to the UK’s “Dispatches,” has been investigating whether the online sites use teams of buyers in the same way as firms like Viagogo and Seatwave were found to be doing in Great Britain.

Programme researcher Signe Holme Øhlenschlæger says she believes she’s found evidence of people buying tickets with the intention of reselling them for profit, but so far her investigation has found that they’re from neighbouring European countries such as Sweden, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland or – in one case – the United Arab Emirates.

Viagogo, which recently switched its UK operation to Switzerland, also gives its Swiss address as the registered office for its Danish operation.

Live Nation and ICO, the country’s two major promoters, say they don’t supply secondary sites with an allocation of tickets to be sold for more than face value.

The UK TV investigation found major promoters including Live Nation, SJM Concerts, 3A, and Metropolis Music are supplying sites like Viagogo and Seatwave on a regular basis.

“The secondary market is not such a problem here,” said ICO chief Kim Worsøe. “We are only five and a half million people and so not so many of our shows sell out.”

He says the reselling tends to be done through what the Danish call “the blue papers,” which – like the UK’s Exchange & Mart – carry thousands of ads for anything from cars to household items.

Ticket-sellers often try to circumvent Danish law by offering the tickets at face value, then demand more once a potential purchaser has shown interest.

Worsøe believes the market has a bigger problem with tickets bought in Sweden by people using stolen credit cards.

“When people have their credit cards stolen, Danish law allows them three months to reclaim the money that the thieves have spent,” he explained. “So, the ticket agency has received the money for the ticket, then paid it to the promoter, and then three months later – long after we have done the settlement with the band – we have to start refunding money,” he said.

TV2’s investigation into the Danish secondary ticketing market is scheduled to be broadcast in September.