What’s wrong with the UK ticketing industry?
It took just minutes for Oasis tickets to disappear.
But, in the rush to secure a seat for one of Britain’s most anticipated reunion tours, thousands of fans were left empty handed, frustrated, and in too many cases – swindled.
The chaos that followed didn’t just expose demand for a beloved band, but revealed the deep cracks in the UK’s ticketing system.
From bots snapping up reservations before real, human fans can click ‘buy’, to scams proliferating across social media platforms like Facebook marketplace, the Oasis scenario has become a case study for a broken sector.
According to Lloyds, over 90 per cent of reported scams targeting Oasis fans originated on Meta-owned platforms, costing its victims over £2m overall.
With a government consultation underway, industry leaders are rallying to find various methods of streamlining the process for fans.
Fan frustration
Dynamic pricing, where ticket costs fluctuate based on demand, has become a contentious practice.
While intended to reflect market value, critics have argued it exploits fans.
Matt Drew, head of international business development at Viagogo, told City PM: “Asking fans to buy tickets so far in advance, putting them in massive queues, having the price triple at the point of check-out – these are scenarios that illustrate a broken system”.
The Competition and Markets Authority, or CMA, has taken notice, accusing Ticketmaster of misleading consumers with its pricing practices.
The CMA’s investigation revealed that ‘platinum tickets’ were sold at nearly triple the price of standard seats without offering additional benefits.
Hayley Fletcher, interim senior director of consumer protection at the CMA, said at the time: “We now expect Ticketmaster to work with us to address these concerns, so, in the future, fans can make well-informed decisions”.
Fraud on the rise
The surge in ticket demand has also led to a spike in fraudulent activities.
According to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cyber crime reporting service, ticket fraud losses soared by nearly 50 per cent from 2023 to 2024, amounting to £9.7m.
June and July saw the highest levels of ticket fraud reporting in 2024, with over 1,000 reports in June alone.
Aviram Ganor, general manager EMEA at Riskified, highlighted the evolving nature of these scams.
“Fraud changes all the time”, he told City PM, “and it’s a continuous rat race.”
Social media has become a hot spot for these scams, too, with Ganor sharing that one in eight people who buy their tickets on these platforms are left without a real ticket.
What’s more, the same Lloyds report revealed that the estimated rate of Oasis ticket scams for their tour this summer will see victims lose an average of £436 per scam.
Ticket price caps
In response to escalating ticket prices and fraud, the government has proposed introducing a cap on the price of ticket sales, as part of its broader ‘plan for change’.
However, the Centre for Economics and Business Research warns that such measures could backfire.
Analysis by the think tank suggests the move could lead to a £183m hit to the UK economy, as fans might choose not to attend or resell their tickets, resulting in empty seats and lost revenue for local businesses.
Meanwhile, restricting the secondary ticket market could push fans toward unregulated channels, increasing the risk of fraud.
Drew said: “The government’s decision to price cap will just not work – the countries that do cap their ticket prices (Ireland and Australia) have seen a rapid increase in fraud”.
“This will push fans into riskier, unregulated channels”, he told City PM.
A call for transparency
Industry experts advocate for a more transparent and collaborative approach to ticketing.
Drawing parallels to open banking, Matt Drew suggests establishing automated ticket verification processes.
He explained: “There should be a unified space for ticketing where everyone, and all information, is connected”.
“The technology would then be able to detect who you are, and where your ticket has gone, and so on”.
Globally, other markets have begun exploring regulatory frameworks that mandate ticketing platforms to disclose all fees upfront through interoperable systems.
For example, the EU’s proposed Digital Markets Act claims to increase transparency and fairness in online ticket sales, a move that could pressure the UK to follow suit.
In an era where consumers demand ethical business practices and accountability, industry leaders say that transparency is the first step toward rebuilding trust in the industry.
As Drew put it, “fans deserve to know what they’re paying for, and who they’re buying from. Without transparency, the cycle will continue unchecked”.