Cricket Australia commends Queensland government

Cricket Australia (CA) Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland today commended the Queensland government on its proposed new laws to attack internet scalping and called on other states to take the issue as seriously as Queensland has.

“Congratulations to Queensland for showing leadership on this issue,” he said.

“It is urgent other states also act because this problem is a national blight.”

“Scalping seriously compromises our efforts to keep tickets accessible and affordable for genuine fans and undermines our strategy of providing opportunities for Australian families to attend the cricket.”

“Scalpers profiteer by selling tickets at prices well above their face value via the internet, and in our case, in clear breach of terms and conditions of sale. They remove affordable tickets from public circulation and, with only profit as a motive, reduce the opportunities for all Australians to buy affordable tickets to watch a national pastime.”

“We are delighted that these new laws appear to provide for the removal of any tickets advertised for sale on the internet at inflated prices, and for hefty fines to be imposed,” he said.

Mr Sutherland said CA had learned through its experience trying to battle internet scalping this year that the problem was endemic throughout the sport and entertainment industry, and was also just as significant a problem in the UK, where government action also appears likely to try to curb internet touts.

“Other sports have told us they have identical problems to ours, and the music and entertainment industry also has the same problem,” he said.

CA will seek to examine the detail of the proposed Queensland legislation and to comment to that government as soon as possible.