Ticket Scalping: Benefits To The Economy

Ticket scalping has been around for many years and is defined as ‘an unsanctioned ticket investor who purchases tickets to an event and resells them at raised prices.’ The action to ‘scalp’ has been referenced as early as 1869 in American English to theater tickets but mostly to that of the 19th century referencing railway tickets. A scalper was a common utterance for “con man or cheater” in the late 19th century. (Scalper) The second-hand market grew exponentially as opportunists realized they could sell tickets at a higher price. For the majority of the 20th century, the secondary market thrived underground, there were no federal laws restricting scalping, however, many states had laws limiting how and where tickets could be resold. With the internet …show more content…
Scalpers perform a great service to the events economic outcome. They are unsung heroes to society by taking financial, legal, and personal risks in the hopes of earning a profit. Scalpers often buy presale tickets and if it is to a sporting event, the team gets the proceeds from the presale before the season even starts. Local businesses also benefit from scalpers, those who do not have tickets travel to the event and eventually visit local restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc., and the businesses therefore achieve higher sales. If scalping were to be banned, the government would be stealing this opportunity for additional income for the community. The general idea behind scalping is profit. The music industry is dying out to illegal downloads. The big companies like TicketMaster were on the right track when they partnered up with secondary sites. The online traffic has risen as a result of the partnerships and the overall revenue has also increased. Reselling tickets should not be outlawed due to its questionable morality, it serves a great purpose in economic