Police are launching an intensive crackdown on ticket scalping around baseball stadiums as the professional baseball postseason gets under way. Starting this year, under the revised National Sports Promotion Act, those caught selling scalped tickets habitually or for commercial purposes face criminal penalties of up to one year in prison.
The Korean National Police Agency said on the 13th that it will conduct an intensive crackdown on ticket scalping from the 14th around major stadiums hosting professional baseball postseason games, including those in Seoul, Daegu, Gwangju and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province, together with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
The crackdown is designed to block illegal ticket resales that thrive during the autumn baseball season and to ensure fair access to games for fans.
Police plan to deploy plainclothes officers and joint patrol teams around ticket booths, subway exits and main spectator routes before and after games to curb organized scalping and solicitation.
Penalties for scalping have been strengthened this year. Previously, even when scalping was caught on site, offenders faced only a 160,000 won fine under the Minor Offenses Act.
But with the revised National Sports Promotion Act taking effect on Aug. 28 this year, selling tickets above their purchase price habitually or for commercial purposes, or brokering such sales, can draw up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won.
Alongside on-site enforcement, police are also running publicity campaigns to stamp out scalping. Building on a memorandum of understanding signed last year between the police agency and the KBO, they plan to continue the anti-scalping campaign while also promoting prevention of online gambling among teenagers and voice phishing.
"Scalping at baseball stadiums is a serious crime that can bring heavy criminal punishment," a police agency official said. "We will crack down firmly on illegal ticket resales that exploit fans' passion and take away fair access to games, and we will keep working with related agencies so that a sound spectator culture takes root."