Which? response to the DCMS announcement on ban of bots within the secondary ticketing market

Alex Neill, Which? Managing Director of Home Services said:

“Banning bots is a welcome move as it should give genuine fans a better chance of getting tickets for popular events.

“Ticketing sites must have much more robust protections in place to combat bots and the competition authorities now need to make sure that this crackdown really works and take strong action against anyone who breaks the law.”

Notes to editors:

  • Last year, Which? released research revealing that music and theatre tickets are still being sold unlawfully on some of the UK’s biggest secondary ticketing sites, by being sold in breach of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Full press release is accessible here.
  • In November 2015, we spent eight weeks monitoring four of the biggest secondary ticketing websites and found evidence that consumers are missing out due to unusual selling patterns. The full press release and research is available here.

Statement