More than 1,000 tickets put up for sale... Ministry refers 170 people suspected of ticket scalping for investigation

[Financial News] The government has referred 170 people suspected of scalping tickets for performances and professional sports for investigation. This is the first such case since an amended law banning improper ticket transactions regardless of macro use took effect.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 7th, the ministry analyzed reports from the Korea Creative Content Agency and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and referred 170 people for investigation the previous day after identifying signs of high-priced or large-volume sales.
The referrals include 121 people in professional sports and 49 in performances. The projected sales total is 11,032 tickets, worth approximately 1.03 billion won. In some cases, one person listed 1,018 tickets, or the total value of sales offers exceeded 100 million won.
These figures were calculated based on sales offers and other information; they do not mean that all transactions for those amounts were completed. A total of 115 people, about 68% of the overall number, were reported based on posts on Ticketbay.
The criteria for referrals differed by field. In professional sports, the ministry selected people from reports received between Aug. 28 and Oct. 1 whose total sales offers amounted to at least 4 million won. For performances, people were included if they met at least one of these criteria: offering five or more tickets for sale, having a completed transaction confirmed, or being suspected of repeated trading.
Based on the published figures, professional sports account for about 90% of the total projected sales. However, because the referral criteria differed by field, it is difficult to view this ratio as the professional sports share of the overall ticket-scalping market.
Four people suspected of “variant sales”—changing the stated nature of a transaction by, for example, describing it as a fee or service charge, or bundling merchandise with a ticket—were also included. The ministry said that, following legal consultations and other reviews, people could be punished if the substance of a transaction constitutes improper trading prohibited by law.
The amended Public Performance Act and National Sports Promotion Act, which took effect on Aug. 28, prohibit the improper purchase and resale of tickets regardless of whether macros are used. An administrative surcharge of up to 50 times the sale price may be imposed for improper resale.
About 68,000 reports were received from the law’s effective date through Oct. 1. That averages about 2,000 a day, roughly 17 times last year’s level. Of the approximately 45,000 valid reports after duplicates and other cases were excluded, the ministry worked with platforms to prevent 30,000 posts from being displayed.
The ministry plans to conduct on-site enforcement with the police at every game in the professional baseball postseason. Suspected ticket-scalping cases can be reported through the “Integrated Reporting Website for Concert and Sports Ticket Scalping.”
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young said, “Ticket scalping is an unequivocal criminal act that deprives creators and sportspeople of their legitimate rights and disrupts the market,” and urged an active response.

[email protected] Jang In-seo Reporter