Ticket Scalping Now Legal in NY and Connecticut

In a recent post, I wrote about Minnesota repealing its 1913 ticket scalping ban. Now both New York and Connecticut have signed legislation to legalize ticket scalping.

From today's WSJ editorial "That's The Ticket":

Fans will now be able to buy and sell tickets in efficient and legal secondary markets. For ardent sports or music fans, this should eliminate the drudgery of camping in line for hours, or sometimes days, outside ticket windows to get choice seats.

Having tickets available to those who are willing to pay even a steep price is better than having no tickets available at any price. Secondary markets work efficiently for trading stocks, bonds, housing and art. When an investor resells his share of Google stock for a profit, we don't call him a price gouger. Yet that still happens in many states to ticket scalpers.

Of all people, Mr. Spitzer put it best when he signed the ticket legislation: "Permitting a free market to work its magic is the smart approach." Hold that thought, Governor.

Bottom Line: As I wrote before, re-selling tickets (or coins, cars, houses or bonds), whether the agreed-upon price is above, below or at the stated face value (list price), in a voluntary transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller, is a "crime" without a victim in those jurisdictions where ticket scalping is illegal.

Ending ticket scalping laws shows that sometimes common economic sense can rise above politics. If every student was required to take a basic economics course in grade school, high school and college, perhaps these ticket scalping laws would have been repealed decades ago?