Technology aids clamp down on illegal ticket sales
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club uses their online ticketing system to aid the identification and prosecution of those touting tickets. Following one of the most popular games of the season; Spurs versus Manchester United at White Hart Lane, the club identified 250 tickets that had been sold on the black market before last Saturday's big game.
Ticket Office Manager Karen Murphy said: "We do care about how fans are consistently exploited by touts at White Hart Lane. We are constantly trying to improve our technology and business processes to ensure it becomes harder for these unscrupulous supporters to purchase match tickets. We will continue to work with the police and Seatbooker to improve the situation throughout the season. We sell tickets online as well as through our box office and call center."
In-house investigators used Seatbooker ticketing technology to trace: -
- 250 tickets that had been sold on
- those that had originated from the club's box holders, season ticket holders and members
- sell-on prices, being reported as "extortionate" with one known to have sold for £600. (twelve times the ticket's face value).
The club now intend to prosecute 100 cases, which includes five ticket agencies. The club also appealed to supporters. "If you have been a victim and purchased a match ticket from an unauthorised source, please help the club help to you. You should contact the ticket office".
Seatbooker ticketing online has worked for Tottenham for some time, to make good use of their technology in detecting credit card fraud and ticket touts. A spokesperson said "For obvious reasons we cannot give details of what the systems we supply do in this respect. However, Seatbooker have worked with various authorities and large clubs to ensure that buying tickets online is fair, secure and security checks are built in wherever then can be without impacting the speed or ease of sale."
"The fact that Spurs have identified this number of illegal sales and will be prosecuting, is a testimony to the system's effectiveness. There were also many more attempted illegal purchases which the system stopped before the tickets got into circulation."