Toronto, ON: The Consumer Choice Center is calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reverse course and cancel plans to impose a cap on ticket resale prices at their original cost. Ticket resale price caps only serve to encourage fraud, monopolization, and higher primary ticket prices.
Jay Goldberg, the CCC’s Canadian Affairs Manager, commented on the Ford government’s proposed legislation.
“Capping resale ticket prices is not the quick fix to so-called price gouging that the Ford government is making it out to be. When tickets cannot be sold above face value in regulated markets, those who want to sell their tickets simply turn to unregulated platforms, like social media, to sell them. And, all too often, consumers end up buying fraudulent tickets, with no way of getting their money back,” said Goldberg.
In a news release, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford claimed that this new legislation is designed to prevent “price gouging.” But evidence also shows that, when ticket resale price caps are in effect, the price of tickets on the primary market increases due to a lack of competition.
“LiveNation/Ticketmaster has a monopoly over the primary market for ticket sales, and this kind of legislation simply locks in that monopoly status. Evidence shows that when monopolies exist, price hikes inevitably follow. The Ford government’s decision to introduce legislation to cap resale tickets at their original cost is the wrong move. It might seem like a quick fix to high ticket prices, but this legislation will create far more problems than it claims to try to solve,” added Goldberg.
