Big four touting for protection

[richard]

The "big four" sports are a step closer to securing victory in their campaign to have ticket touting outlawed after the Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Tessa Jowell, agreed to host a summit to discuss the issue early next month. Representatives of the four main governing bodies - the Rugby Football Union, the Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board - have been lobbying for months to try to persuade the government to change its position on the issue.

Currently scalping is only illegal at football because of the security implications, but with touting at the London 2012 Games to be outlawed under the provisions of the Olympic bill, it will be hard for the government to argue that touts can take advantage of punters at Test matches, the All England Club and Twickenham but not at the Olympic Stadium or Wembley. The sports minister Richard Caborn has already expressed his support for legislation in the Commons, describing touting as "exploitation".

The touting industry is thought by police to be largely in the hands of organised criminal gangs and is worth an estimated £100m a year.


Source
Paul Kelso
The Guardian

[Babs]

I feel split on this one. On one side i think it's a life line for fans that have been unable to get tickets for an event, as the liklihood is a ticket is available, at an inflated price at the ground. However on the other side there would be more tickets available in the first place if 'touts' hadn't snapped them all up.

I note that some Welsh rugby clubs have threatened life bans for "ticket touts" after tickets for international games allocated to rugby clubs were found for sale on eBay. Do you think this 'threat' really matters to the touts? are they not just in it for the £?