Ticket Scalping to become legal in Florida?

It could if a bill that that is currently in both houses of the Florida State legislature gets signed into law. As Florida law stands now, it's illegal to sell tickets for more than $1 over their value in Florida. The online ticket seller Ticketmaster is in favor of the legislation.

TFM is ambivalent on the issue of scalping. Only one time in my life have I ever purchased tickets from a scalper. It was so I could take this person to a concert, she paid. Truthfully enforcing this law doesn't make sense. Our police have better things to do with their time. Its also the free market at work, if people want tickets to a sold out event and someone has tickets they can't use, why can't they make a little money? No one has to buy tickets at a higher price.

On the other hand I could see someone buying large blocks of tickets and then scalping them to make a profit. Scalping laws in theory prevent this, but every Super Bowl game that ever took place in Florida has seen scalping despite the laws against it.

So what do you think?

Open Post- Bright & Early, Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway,

TALLAHASSEE - Matthew Adams is getting desperate.

He has less than a month to sell six tickets to a Kenny Chesney concert at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. He recently posted the tickets for sale on the popular website Craigslist.org. The asking price: $75 each -- exactly what he paid.

Even though Adams lives in Virginia, he knows he'd be committing a crime in Florida if he tried to sell the tickets for more than $1 over their face value.

But Florida lawmakers want to change that.

A measure filed in both chambers of the Legislature would drastically change the 61-year-old ticket-scalping laws, allowing Floridians to resell tickets at any price to sporting events, theater shows and concerts on authorized websites that offer consumer protection guarantees, such as full refunds if the event is canceled or the tickets are not delivered in time.

The measure comes as Internet ticket sales are skyrocketing -- some legal, others not.

''There's a current market out there that is booming,'' said state Rep. Marcelo Llorente, a Miami Republican who introduced the House version of the bill. ``We want to be able to offer the consumers the protections they deserve and the ability to resell their tickets for whatever price the market will bear.''

The proposed changes also will affect scalpers who stand outside arenas and other event venues hawking tickets.

Current law says someone caught selling an admission ticket for more than $1 over its original selling price can be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

If the law is changed, those same people will make money: Scalpers who make hand-to-hand transactions would be able to resell tickets for 25 percent over face value.

Proponents of the measure say it will do away with laws that limit free enterprise.

''A free market is by far the best for the consumer,'' said Gary Adler, general counsel for the National Association of Ticket Brokers, a nonprofit group that represents the ticket brokering industry.

Current law says licensed ticket brokers are exempt from the $1 cap as long as they resell the tickets as part of a travel package. That exemption allows many of them to resell tickets at exorbitant prices, Llorente said. The proposed bills wouldn't affect them.

Llorente and his co-sponsor, state Rep. John Stargel, a Lakeland Republican, won unanimous support for their bill from a House committee Wednesday. It must pass through another committee before it can be voted on by the entire House.

Its Senate counterpart, filed by Sens. Mike Bennett, a Bradenton Republican, and Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican, has passed through two committees. If approved by one more, it can be voted on by the full Senate.

The bills have won support from online ticket retailers, such as Ticketmaster and StubHub.