Minister: Anti-scalping provisions to be added to Price Control Act

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 — The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living is “actively” working on a dedicated legal framework to combat ticket scalping, with new regulations expected to take effect as early as next year, Parliament was told this morning.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said anti-scalping provisions could be inserted under Section 15(1) of the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act, which grants authority to introduce measures curbing unfair pricing and resale practices.

“The ministry is currently engaging in engagement sessions with event organisers and conducting benchmarking studies with the objective and intention of establishing a legal framework,” he said during Question Time.

“Under Act 723, or the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act, Section 15(1) provides the minister and the Ministry the power to establish a mechanism in the form of regulations that we can use to curb these scalping activities,” he added.

Scalping is a slang term used to describe the practice of buying something highly sought after like concert tickets, shoes, or clothing at retail price and then reselling it at a much higher price, leveraging on scarcity and demand.

While scalping in Malaysia has been around for some time, backlash against the practice blew up when British rock giants Coldplay came to perform in Kuala Lumpur in 2023, when “scalpers” bought tickets in big numbers and then resell them at exorbitant rates.

For example, the standard CAT 1 tickets that were originally priced at RM1,288 were re-listed for reportedly up to RM43,000, sparking outrage.

Investigative reports suggest scalping in Malaysia has evolved from individuals reselling a few extra tickets into an organised, tech-driven operation affecting multiple sectors as scalpers began utilising internet bots to make bulk purchases.

Bots help resellers bypass virtual waiting rooms to buy bulk batches of tickets within seconds before human buyers even load the payment page.

Armizan said the anti-scalping provisions would include the definition of scalping itself, how to control bulk ticket purchasing activities and enforcing the use identification or names on ticket purchases.

“Because when bulk ticket purchases happen — whether through bots or by individuals — this is where secondary sales or a secondary layer of sales occur,” he said.

“So that is where the situation of scalping may arise. This is what we are studying.”