Have you wondered how ticket brokers are able to scoop up so many tickets so quickly while you hit “refresh” on your browser and resign yourself to sitting in the back row? They’re using automated “bots,” which are illegal in New York state. That’s why a handful of brokers have agreed to fork over millions of dollars to the state after being caught deploying ticket-buying bots and selling tickets without a license. [More]
ticket bots
Ticketmaster Hopes New ‘Verified Fan’ Program Will Weed Out Ticket Bots
By 3.14.17
While there is now a federal law on the books banning ticket-buying bots in an attempt to give real, live humans a better chance at scoring admission to popular events, these automated scalpers are squirrelly little suckers. In an effort combat this problem, Ticketmaster is launching a new program that will use ticket buyers’ profiles to help verify they’re actually humans. [More]
New Bot-Blocking Legislation Could Make It Easier To Score Tickets To Popular Events
By 12.8.16
About a week after New York barred scalpers from using bots to scoop up tickets to sporting events, concerts, and other popular attractions, the U.S. Congress has sent its own anti-bot legislation to President Obama to sign. [More]
New York Bars Scalpers From Using Bots To Snap Up Tickets Before Everyone Else
By 11.29.16
Perhaps you’ve been here before: you’re waiting patiently, albeit a bit anxiously, for the moment when you can buy tickets to a concert or sporting event online. But despite your best efforts and quick action, you find that someone has swooped in and snapped up all the tickets, leaving you to the mercies of online resellers that may jack up the cost of tickets. [More]
How Scalpers Make More Money Off Broadway’s ‘Hamilton’ Than The Show’s Producers
By 7.29.16
There’s good news for impatient theater fans who want to see the hit Broadway show “Hamilton.” After ticket prices peaked between this year’s Tony awards on June 12 and the departure of some original cast members a month later, they’ve now plummeted… to only about six to ten times their original face value. [More]
