MN Senate passes bill to make scalping legal

02/20/2007

By Conrad Defiebre,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 19, 2007


Ticket scalping has been a crime in Minnesota since 1963, but a bill to legalize it sailed through the state Senate on
Monday.

The burgeoning cybermarket in sports and entertainment admissions has already eclipsed most scalping laws, said Sen. Chris Gerlach, R-Apple Valley.

Gerlach said his bill, which passed without debate on a 48-15 vote, simply acknowledges "a legitimate secondary market. We don't regulate secondary markets for baseball cards or art or mortgages, but we push ticket resales into a black market."

For at least one Minnesota ticket reseller, changing the law would be good news and bad news.

Legalization "would probably hurt my business, but it's a stupid law and it should be changed," said Tom, a Westbrook, Minn., resident who has earned both a living and a criminal record in 10 years as a scalper.

He was interviewed Monday on the condition that his last name not be published.

Repeal of the law may only increase the dominance of Internet sites such as eBay in brokering tickets, Tom said.

Reselling tickets is already legal in all but about a dozen states, Gerlach said, adding that he expects the prices that Minnesota fans pay middlemen for tickets would decline with legalization.

In neighboring Wisconsin, decriminalization has spawned a vibrant legal ticket brokerage industry that pays taxes instead of court fines, Gerlach said.

Operations such as Ticket King in Hudson, Wis., combine walk-in and Internet sales. On Monday, Ticket King's website was advertising tickets for the Twins opener on April 2 ranging from $64 for general admission tickets with a face value of $7 to $220 for $44 lower club level seats between home plate and first base.

In Minnesota, selling a ticket at a price greater than that printed on it can bring misdemeanor penalties of up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

But the law is sporadically enforced, Tom said, noting that he was arrested as recently as October by Minneapolis police for hawking Twins playoff tickets outside the Metrodome, but has never been pinched at Wild games in St. Paul.

A House version of Gerlach's bill, sponsored by Rep. Chris DeLaForest, R-Andover, has cleared one committee and is awaiting a hearing before another. The measure has attracted no public testimony, Gerlach said.

"It's a bill whose time has come," he said. "Ticket reselling happens between a willing seller and willing buyer, and there's no public policy reason for the state to interfere."