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Tickets: Sales

Asked by Mr Louie FrenchConservativeDepartment for Business and TradeTabled Answered 25 March 2026UIN 121825

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has used the additional enforcement powers for secondary ticketing under section 216 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 on the use of bots to purchase tickets.

Answered by Kate Dearden

Consumer law enforcement is principally the responsibility of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Local Authority Trading Standards. Section 216 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 grants the CMA enforcement functions under the Breaching of Limits on Ticket Sales Regulations 2018. Those regulations make it an offence to use software to purchase tickets in excess of the sales limit set by an event organiser for a UK recreational, sporting or cultural event, where the intent is to secure financial gain. As an independent authority, the CMA has discretion to undertake enforcement action which, according to its prioritisation principles, it considers most appropriate.

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