Ticketmaster faces antitrust scrutiny in Mexico following Bad Bunny ticket sales fiasco

The top of Profeco, Mexico’s client safety watchdog, has promised to sue Ticketmaster following a ticketing snafu within the nation’s capital, studies . On the weekend of December ninth, Puerto Rican reggaeton star Dangerous Bunny was scheduled to play two soldout exhibits in Mexico Metropolis’s Estadio Azteca, the most important stadium in Latin America. The Friday evening date noticed hundreds of followers denied entry to the venue after they have been informed by Estadio Azteca employees the tickets they purchased straight from Ticketmaster have been faux.

Profeco accused the corporate of overselling tickets. In accordance with the company, greater than 1,600 ticket holders have been denied entry on the primary evening, and one other 110 on the next night. “Ticketmaster claimed they have been counterfeit, however they have been all issued by them,” Profeco head Ricardo Sheffield informed native information retailers. Ticketmaster has agreed to refund all affected followers the total worth of their ticket, plus a 20 % compensation price. Profeco is making ready to file a class-action lawsuit in opposition to the corporate. Ticketmaster Mexico may be fined as much as 10 % of its whole gross sales in 2021. “As we’re a fiscal authority, in the event that they don’t wish to pay of their very own will, we’ll seize their accounts then, and they’ll pay as a result of they must,” Sheffield mentioned.

In a Ticketmaster posted to Twitter this week, the corporate denied the declare it oversold tickets. It blamed the occasion on demand for Dangerous Bunny tickets – saying greater than 4.5 million folks tried to buy simply 120,000 stubs – and scalpers who offered faux tickets. “On Friday, an unprecedented variety of false tickets, not purchased by our official channels, have been offered on the gates,” the corporate mentioned, in response to an . “The state of affairs, along with confusion amongst entry management personnel, brought about momentary interruptions within the ticket studying system, which sadly momentarily impeded recognition of legit tickets.”

In November, Democratic lawmakers, together with Home Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, started calling for the break up of Ticketmaster after the corporate botched gross sales of Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets. “Day by day reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with LiveNation ought to by no means have been accepted, they usually should be reigned in,” final month. The US Division of Justice an antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster guardian firm LiveNation earlier than the Swift fiasco. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competitors Coverage, Antitrust and Customers it will maintain a listening to on the corporate’s current failures.