Ticket resale website Viagogo faces legal action from the governing bodies of cricket and an investigation by regulators for advertising tickets that are not yet on sale.
Viagogo, an online marketplace that allows people to resell tickets, lists hundreds of tickets for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy. But the event is not yet on public sale and consumer protection laws prohibit companies from advertising products they do not have.
“The ICC Champions Trophy 2017 ballot is open until 30 September and therefore no tickets have been allocated yet,” said a spokesman for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). “This means that any tickets currently being advertised on secondary ticketing sites do not exist and cannot be guaranteed.
“The ECB are monitoring this situation with the ICC and are taking the appropriate legal measures against these sites. We strongly recommend that cricket fans around the world buy their tickets only via the official ballot at icc-cricket.com/tickets.”
The threat of legal action against Viagogo, which has a large office in London but is technically based in Switzerland, comes amid efforts by the music and sports industries to crack down on ticket resale sites and the touts who profit from them.
Mike Andrews, who leads the eCrime team at National Trading Standards, confirmed that advertising tickets before they were available, with no information about seat numbers or face value, breached consumer rights law.
“We increasingly see unofficial ticket vendors offering tickets to major events before they have actually gone on sale, which can be tempting for fans who want to guarantee their place at a sports tournament or other major event,” he said.
“These tickets are usually sold without basic information such as seat number or face value, which is prohibited under new laws passed last year and we strongly advise fans to avoid purchasing tickets from unofficial sellers.”
Viagogo and rivals such as StubHub and GetMeIn are also understood to be facing the prospect of a full-blown investigation by regulators. “Enforcement agencies are looking closely at this issue and there is a possibility of enforcement action in due course,” said a senior regulatory source.
Viagogo has also come under fire for advertising tickets whose terms and conditions explicitly forbid their resale, meaning fans risk being refused entry.
The Geneva-based website recently listed tickets to the Radio 1Xtra show in Liverpool, featuring artists such as Stormzy and Sean Paul.
“Tickets for 1Xtra Live … are individually barcoded and anyone trying to get in with a resold or transferred ticket not purchased legitimately via 1Xtra may be refused entry or ejected from the venue,” said 1Xtra.
Secondary ticketing, the name for tickets that are resold as opposed to “primary” tickets released at face value, has attracted increasing scrutiny of late.
Bands such as Pixies and Mumford and Sons have condemned the industry, while fans were left outraged by touts using the sites to advertise tickets to the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play for up to £8,000.
However, a government-backed review of the industry by Prof Michael Waterson, which recommended several measures to curb touting, has met with no response from ministers.
Waterson said at a recent music industry event that he feared the issue had been “pushed into the long grass”.
The Competition and Markets Authority is expected to release a report into the industry next month, which could task a body such as Trading Standards with launching a dedicated investigation.
Trading Standards has so far struggled to address ticketing because its budget for policing rogue traders has been slashed.
The secondary ticketing industry is worth an estimated £1bn a year, based on transaction details from the four biggest sites.
Reg Walker, of anti-touting consultancy Iridium, said: “What is the point of passing consumer protection laws if there’s nobody to enforce it? I would like to see HMRC, Trading Standards and police launch a full investigation into Viagogo and its activities.
“Why is nobody protecting the consumer? Why are the authorities running scared of these big companies?”
FanFair Alliance, an organisation set up to combat touting for music events, urged swift action against Viagogo and its rivals.
“We urgently need government action and proper enforcement of the law. British music fans are the best in the world, and deserve better than this unregulated and dysfunctional market.”
Viagogo did not return the guardian’s requests for comment.
