Hong Kong ticket tout crackdown urged after lack of convictions revealed

Hong Kong lawmakers have accused authorities of inaction against ticket touts and expressed concern over their impact on mega-event tourism after learning that no one had been convicted under a decades-old law over a 2½-year period since 2022.

The government also told the Legislative Council on Wednesday that it “has been studying” options to outlaw ticket scalping at the Hong Kong Coliseum and its other venues, reiterating a pledge made more than six years ago.

Under the Public Entertainment Ordinance it is an offence to offer or sell tickets at a price higher than that fixed by organisers of events held at licensed venues. The unauthorised sale of tickets – even at the regular price – is also outlawed “in any public thoroughfare, or in the entrance hall of, or approaches to” the venue.

Offenders face a fine of up to HK$2,000 (US$257).

But the law does not cover venues managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau told a legislator that it had not caught scalpers in recent years.

“According to the records of the relevant departments, no person was convicted for contravention of [the clause] among the cases concluded from 2022 to the second quarter of 2024,” the bureau said in a reply to a question by lawmaker Chan Kin-por.