Brighton Seeks to Combat Ticket Reselling Scams in Premier League
For many football enthusiasts, attending Premier League matches is a cherished weekly ritual. These fans often purchase season tickets for home games and travel extensively to support their teams during away matches.
For others, experiencing a game in England's top division is a rare opportunity, one that requires considerable savings and time away from their daily routines.
Last weekend, James from South Korea traveled 5,500 miles to Brighton to watch his beloved Tottenham play for the first time, spending £900 on a ticket from an unauthorized resale website. However, upon arrival, he was turned away at the stadium gates.
Following a BBC investigation that revealed a widespread black market for Premier League tickets, Brighton invited reporters to showcase the extent of the issue and their efforts to address it.
The ticket James purchased had already been deactivated by the time he attempted to scan it for entry into the Amex Stadium. When he approached the ticket office, Brighton staff informed him that his ticket was illegitimate.
"I’m disappointed; I didn’t understand this rule," he expressed outside the stadium, visibly upset. "I have been told I should try and get a refund for the ticket."
More than a hundred other fans faced similar situations, with their tickets for the match canceled in the same manner.
While reselling tickets is illegal in the UK, many websites exploit loopholes by operating from outside the country.
The BBC's investigation uncovered that resellers frequently use bot software and fake identities to acquire hundreds of tickets, subsequently selling them at inflated prices, leaving fans either overcharged or without valid tickets.
“Long-term supporters are finding it impossible to get tickets due to the way they are distributed through secondary agencies,” stated Tom Greatrex, chair of the Football Supporters' Association. “This issue is becoming endemic across the game.”
Brighton has implemented new technologies to combat the resale of tickets at significantly inflated prices by unauthorized websites. This season, they appointed Joseph Sells as a tickets investigation officer, who was present during the Tottenham match.
“We’ve identified hundreds of unauthorized resale tickets today, and by preventing these transactions, we’ve saved around £100,000 that would have gone to ticket touts,” Sells reported. “We are heavily investing in solutions to address this issue at its core, utilizing the latest technology, and we are proactive in our efforts.”
“A family came with six tickets for the Manchester City match two weeks ago, which they had purchased for a total of £6,000. It’s very upsetting, of course. It’s a sad story, but that’s why we’re emphasizing – if you want to attend a game, buy directly from the club.”
Brighton later informed the BBC that 285 unauthorized tickets were blocked at the match, and 12 individual season ticket holders identified as touts had their tickets for future matches canceled. Notably, one tout account used the name Tony Montana, the lead character from the 1980s gangster film Scarface, in an attempt to bulk purchase tickets.
The Premier League is already implementing new rules for digital ticketing, including the introduction of encrypted barcodes, which are expected to make touting more challenging.
Sells explained that while he collaborates with other clubs, the software used is tailored specifically for Brighton, monitoring for suspicious transactions and scanning resale sites for ticket listings with seat numbers. “We’re essentially training a model to detect tout behavior before it can infiltrate the club,” he elaborated. “It assigns a risk score to each transaction. For instance, if someone in Estonia is using a prepaid card issued in the United Arab Emirates, that will trigger a flag in the system. The model improves daily in identifying anomalies.”
At Brighton, fans attempting to enter with unauthorized tickets receive a letter explaining the situation, concluding with guidance on how to seek refunds from their card issuers as victims of fraud. The club also makes any available seats from season ticket holders unable to attend or from hospitality sections available for sale to fans whose tickets were blocked upon entry.
For individuals like James, who believe that resale websites are their ticket to fulfilling their dream of attending a match, the reality can quickly transform into a nightmare.