A winner-loser scenario: Ticket scalping goes legit
Some in Mass. want to follow New York's lead
Ticket scalping is now legal in the state of New York. Can Massachusetts be far behind?
Late last week, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed legislation eliminating all pricing restrictions on the resale of tickets. The law does bar scalpers from operating within 1,500 feet of a large stadium or concert venue or within 500 feet of a smaller venue, such as a Broadway theater. Also, anyone selling more than five tickets to an event would be required to purchase a state license.
"For a ticket broker, New York is the biggest market in the country," said James Holzman , president of AceTicket.com of Boston. "It's great New York has decided to get rid of the archaic laws on its books. I hope Massachusetts follows suit."
In recent years, a flurry of states have done away with restrictions on ticket resales, including Florida, Louisiana, and Minnesota. Lawmakers in those states and New York were lobbied hard by professional sports teams and companies such as eBay and Ticket master that are seeking to win a greater share of the lucrative ticket resale business.
Key Massachusetts lawmakers have indicated they may support deregulating the ticket resale business here, or at least significantly ease existing pricing restrictions. At a recent hearing on Beacon Hill, several lawmakers said the state should not be in the business of regulating ticket prices.
The Massachusetts antiscalping law was passed in 1924 and is rarely enforced today. It bars licensed brokers from reselling tickets for more than $2 above face value plus certain service and business expenses.
Only a handful of other states now have laws on their books limiting the price of ticket resales. According to StubHub, an online ticket marketplace owned by eBay, the list includes Arkansas, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, and Rhode Island.
The New York law regulating ticket resales has been evolving over the last several years. Most recently, a law that was scheduled to expire on Friday allowed a markup of up to 45 percent on tickets to events at venues seating more than 6,000. Prior to that, the allowable markup had been $5, or 20 percent above face value, whichever was higher.
The New York Yankees generally supported the elimination of pricing restrictions on resales, but the team opposed a provision that would prevent venues from restricting how their fans resell tickets. New York lawmakers said the provision was designed to prevent sports teams from monopolizing the resale of their own tickets.
The justification for antiscalping laws has been the desire to prevent fans from paying exorbitant amounts for tickets. But in a memo accompanying the New York legislation, the bill's sponsors said: "The primary sale price of tickets has increased to a point that many tickets are already unaffordable for consumers. Therefore, controlling the prices on the secondary market is not an effective consumer protection."
Colman Herman , a Dorchester consumer activist who has filed a lawsuit against a Weymouth ticket reseller for allegedly violating the Massachusetts antiscalping law, said passage of the New York law is a sad day for fans.
"No one cares about the little guy anymore," he said. "It's all about the money."
Bruce Mohl can be reached at mohl@globe.com. 
