Ticket Scalping Plagues Pro Sports Fans... 41-Fold Surge in Five Years

Ticket Bay Identified as Main Hotbed...
Enforcement Rate Stands at Only 5.9%
Min Hyungbae: "Urgent Need for Institutional Reforms to Block New Scalping Methods"

Min Hyungbae, member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Suspected cases of online ticket scalping for professional sports events have surged by an astonishing 41 times over the past five years, emerging as a serious social issue. Despite the increasingly sophisticated methods used by scalpers, government enforcement remains minimal, leading to criticism that authorities are neglecting this "crime against people's livelihoods," which deprives fans of fair opportunities to attend games.

According to data submitted to Assemblyman Min Hyungbae (Gwangju Gwangsan-eul) of the Democratic Party of Korea by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on October 14, suspected cases of online ticket scalping for professional sports events skyrocketed from 6,237 cases in 2020 to 259,334 cases as of the end of August this year. This represents an approximately 41-fold increase in five years, and the number is expected to rise further by the end of the year.

This sharp increase is believed to be due to the Korea Professional Sports Association’s shift this year from manual monitoring to outsourcing with automated tools at its ticket scalping report center, which has brought previously hidden illegal transactions to light.

Changes have also been detected in the platforms used for ticket scalping. While general secondhand trading platforms such as Junggonara were previously the main venues for scalping, this year has seen a clear shift toward the ticket-specialized platform "Ticket Bay." Of the 32,013 reports filed overall, 25,188 cases-or 78.7%-occurred on Ticket Bay, making it the overwhelming leader.

However, enforcement remains stagnant. Of the 21,442 cases reported last year, only 989 cases (4.6%) resulted in action such as reservation cancellation or warnings. This year, just 1,875 cases (5.9%) out of 32,013 reports have been addressed, yielding a low enforcement rate of around 5%. The association explained that scalpers are evading crackdowns through cunning tactics such as deliberately concealing seat numbers, making enforcement difficult.

Legal and institutional loopholes have also been pointed out. The current National Sports Promotion Act only prohibits "illegal sales using macro programs" and "resale above purchase price," making it ineffective against person-to-person scalping or new methods of ticket scalping via social media platforms such as Twitter.

Assemblyman Min emphasized, "Ticket scalping reduces access to tickets to a matter of price competition, exacerbating inequality and constituting a crime against people's livelihoods. We must urgently establish institutional measures to block new and evolving scalping methods, including those using social media."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.