On November 17, 2025, the United Kingdom’s government sent shockwaves through the entertainment and ticketing industries by revealing plans to ban the resale of live event tickets for profit. This bold move—expected to be officially announced on Wednesday—marks the culmination of years of mounting frustration among music fans, artists, and consumer advocates over the sky-high prices and scams that have plagued the secondary ticket market. According to the Financial Times and Guardian, ministers are preparing legislation that will make it illegal to resell tickets for more than their original face value, with only capped service fees allowed on top, as part of a sweeping crackdown on touts and secondary platforms like Viagogo and StubHub.
The initiative, which aligns with Labour’s manifesto pledge for stronger consumer protections, aims to put an end to the era of ticket scalping that has left countless fans priced out of concerts, sporting events, and theater performances. Touts—often using bots to scoop up tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale—have long resold them at several times their original price, exploiting demand and leaving genuine fans out in the cold. The government’s earlier consultation had considered merely capping resale prices at 30% above face value, but as reported by both the Guardian and Financial Times, the decision to go further and ban any markup above face value signals a tougher stance than many expected.
The crackdown is not just about headline-grabbing legislation; it’s the result of a powerful coalition of voices demanding change. Just last week, dozens of world-renowned artists—including Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Radiohead, The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey, and Mercury Prize-winner Sam Fender—signed an open letter calling on the government to honor its promise to cap resale prices. Their statement urged ministers to “restore faith in the ticketing system” and “help democratise public access to the arts.” According to The Independent, the campaign also drew support from consumer watchdog Which?, FanFair Alliance, O2, the Football Supporters’ Association, and a host of organizations representing the music and theater industries, venues, managers, and ticket retailers.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, welcomed the move, declaring, “This is great news for music and sports fans. A price cap set at the ticket’s original face value plus fees will rein in professional touts and put tickets back in the hands of real fans. For far too long, music and sports fans who missed out on tickets in the initial sales have been ripped off by touts on secondary ticketing sites and forced to pay over the odds to see their favourite artist perform or watch their team play.”
Live Nation Entertainment—the parent company of Ticketmaster—also threw its weight behind the government’s plan. In a statement shared with the press, the company said, “Live Nation fully supports the UK Government’s plan to ban ticket resale above face value. Ticketmaster already limits all resale in the UK to face value prices and this is another major step forward for fans, cracking down on exploitative touting to help keep live events accessible. We encourage others around the world to adopt similar fan-first policies.”
But not everyone is cheering. Resale giants StubHub and Viagogo have voiced strong opposition, warning that the ban could backfire. A spokesperson for StubHub International argued, “The Government’s intention to implement a price cap on the resale of live event tickets will condemn fans to take risks to see their favourite live events. With a price cap on regulated marketplaces, ticket transactions will move to black markets. When a regulated market becomes a black market, only bad things happen for consumers. Fraud, fear and zero recourse.” Viagogo pointed to other countries as cautionary tales: “Evidence shows price caps have repeatedly failed fans, in countries like Ireland and Australia fraud rates are nearly four times higher than in the UK as price caps push consumers towards unregulated sites.”
Indeed, the secondary ticketing industry has lobbied fiercely against the proposals. As the Guardian reported, some of the UK’s biggest touts even planned their own political influence campaign at a secret meeting last year, fearing their lucrative business model was under threat. The government, however, appears undeterred. The new rules will not only target major resale platforms but will also apply to social media sites, which have been flagged as potential havens for unregulated and potentially fraudulent ticket sales if the law squeezes out legitimate exchanges.
Under the planned law, anyone reselling a ticket will be prohibited from charging more than they paid for it, and resale platforms will only be able to add capped service fees—though the precise ceiling for these charges is still to be determined. Importantly, sellers will also be barred from offering more tickets than they could have bought under original box office limits, closing another loophole that touts have exploited. The government has decided against introducing a licensing system for resale companies, but platforms will be held legally liable if sellers using their sites break the law. Enforcement will fall to the Competition and Markets Authority.
The scale of the problem is hard to overstate. Investigations by the Guardian and Which? uncovered professional touts selling thousands of tickets at astronomical prices. Examples include Oasis tickets for Wembley Stadium listed for as much as £3,498 on StubHub and £4,442 on Viagogo, a Coldplay ticket at £814.52 on StubHub, and, in the most egregious case, a ticket for the All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park listed for £114,666 on Viagogo. The telecoms company and venue sponsor Virgin O2 estimated that such markups cost UK consumers £145 million annually. Worse still, some sellers have been accused of “speculative selling”—a fraudulent practice where touts list tickets they don’t actually possess, hoping to buy them later at a lower price and pocket the difference.
The financial markets have already responded. Following the Financial Times report, shares of Live Nation Entertainment fell 2.2% and StubHub Holdings dropped 6% on November 17, 2025, reflecting investor concerns about the impact of the UK’s impending crackdown. According to Investing.com, the ban could significantly affect StubHub’s business model, which relies on reselling tickets above face value, while Live Nation’s exposure is somewhat lessened by its focus on direct sales through Ticketmaster. StubHub Holdings is the parent company of Viagogo, though the UK StubHub brand is now separate after a split forced by regulators in 2020.
For many fans, the government’s move is long overdue. Face-value resale sites like Twickets and Ticketmaster’s own exchange have grown in popularity as safer alternatives, offering more protection from touts and speculative sellers. As the government prepares to include the ban in next year’s King’s Speech and set the enforcement wheels in motion, the UK may soon become a test case for whether tough regulation can finally make live events fairer and more accessible—or whether, as critics warn, it might simply drive the market underground.
With the battle lines drawn and millions of pounds at stake, the coming months will reveal whether the UK’s bold stand against ticket profiteering delivers the promised benefits to fans—or opens the door to new challenges in the ever-evolving world of live entertainment.
