UK ticket resale law 2026: how to buy premium sport and event tickets safely

“Is ticket resale illegal in the UK?” has a split answer. For most events, no, as long as the rules are followed. For football, selling without authority is a criminal offence. And the much-discussed cap on resale prices is still a proposal. Here is how it fits together.

The short answer

Ticket resale is not illegal in the UK as a whole, but it is regulated, and one sport is treated very differently. For football, selling a ticket without authority is a criminal offence. For other events, resale is legal but the seller and the platform must follow disclosure rules. A price cap on resale has been announced but is not yet law.

This guide covers what the law says today, what has been proposed, and how to avoid the common traps when you buy premium tickets or hospitality. It is general information, not legal advice. We checked each source below on 16 October 2026.

Football: section 166 of the 1994 Act

Section 166 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is headed “sale of tickets by unauthorised persons”. It makes it an offence for an unauthorised person to sell a ticket for a designated football match, or otherwise dispose of such a ticket to another person.

• Unauthorised means not authorised in writing by the organisers of the match.
• Selling is wide: it includes offering to sell, exposing for sale, advertising that a ticket is available, and giving a ticket to someone who pays for other goods or services.
• Ticket means anything that purports to be a ticket.
• The penalty on summary conviction is a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale.

Designated matches are set by order of the Secretary of State. The offence is the seller’s. But a buyer who pays a reseller for a football ticket takes a real risk: the club can cancel it and refuse entry, and you have no easy way to check what you were sold. That is why football “ticket resale” searches end badly so often, and why the legal routes are the club itself, its ticketing channels and its hospitality programme. Our London football hospitality guide shows what each club sells.

Everything else: Consumer Rights Act 2015, sections 90 and 91

For other UK sporting, cultural and recreational events, resale through an online “secondary ticketing facility” is legal but regulated. Section 90 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires the seller, and each operator of the platform, to give the buyer certain information before the buyer is bound by the contract, in a clear and comprehensible way:

• information identifying the seat or standing area, such as the stand, block, row and seat number;
• any restriction limiting use of the ticket to particular people;
• the ticket’s face value, meaning the price stated on the ticket;
• if the seller is linked to the platform or the event, the reason for that link.

Section 91 stops event organisers cancelling a ticket, or blacklisting a seller, just because it was resold, unless the original sale contract allowed it and the term was not unfair. Section 92 requires platforms to report known criminal activity to the police and the organiser. Breaches of these duties can bring a financial penalty of up to £5,000, and since 6 April 2025 the Competition and Markets Authority can enforce them as well as trading standards.

Note the limits. These rules apply to resale on a platform. They do not make resale above face value illegal, and they do not give you a general right to a refund if the ticket turns out to be refused at the gate.

All-in pricing: the DMCC Act 2024

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 gave the CMA the power to fine businesses directly for breaches of consumer law. Its price transparency rules require a trader to show the total price in the invitation to purchase. That normally includes unavoidable charges such as booking fees, taxes like VAT and other payments needed to buy the product. The CMA’s guidance says that giving mandatory charges separately will not normally be enough. Where the total cannot be worked out in advance, a trader must give the information you need to calculate it, and a “from” price is only acceptable if it includes all applicable mandatory charges.

The penalty is a fine of up to 10% of turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater, and an order to compensate customers. This is the rule that targets the checkout that shows £150 and ends at £215.

What changed in 2026: the resale cap is announced, not law

On 19 November 2025 the government announced that it would ban the resale of live event tickets above their original price, defined as face value plus unavoidable fees. Platform service fees would be capped, resellers could not list more tickets than they were entitled to buy, and platforms would have a duty to monitor compliance, enforced through the DMCC regime. The government said it would introduce primary legislation “when parliamentary time allows” and had not set the level of the fee cap.

The May 2026 King’s Speech listed a draft Ticket Tout Ban Bill among bills to be published in draft. It has been reported that, in a Commons debate on 18 June 2026, the government said it intended to publish the draft in this session. Check Parliament’s bill tracker for the current position. We found no evidence the draft has been published or passed as of 16 October 2026. So, plainly: there is no general legal cap on resale prices today, and a draft bill is a step before a bill, not a law.

It has been reported that a separate Sporting Events Bill was introduced in the House of Lords in May 2026 and would create a ticket touting offence for designated major events, which is a different measure from the football offence and the resale cap. Check Parliament’s bill tracker for the current position.

Red flags when buying premium tickets

• No face value or seat detail. A platform that cannot say the stand, row and face value is not following section 90.
• A football ticket sold ticket-only by a private seller or an unofficial site. That is the section 166 situation.
• A headline price that grows at checkout. Fees added late are what the all-in pricing rules target.
• Payment by bank transfer, gift cards or crypto to an individual, with no invoice and no company details.
• “Guaranteed” access with no named seller or terms, especially close to the event.
• Pressure to pay now and screenshots instead of a booking confirmation.
• Hospitality offered cheaper than the club’s own “from” price. Compare it with the club’s page.

A practical checklist

1. Start with the organiser, club or venue’s own site and check what it sells and what it says about other channels.
2. Get the seller’s legal name, company number and contact details.
3. Ask for the total price, including every fee and VAT, in writing.
4. Check the seat or area, the face value and any restriction on who can use the ticket.
5. For football, only buy hospitality or tickets from the club or channels it has authorised.
6. Find out how tickets are delivered and when, and whether the name on them has to match your ID.
7. Read the cancellation and refund terms before you pay, and keep every message.

How VIPListed works

We are not a secondary ticketing platform. We do not sell resale, general-admission or standing tickets, and we do not sell ticket-only football seats. For hospitality, you ask us about an event, group size and budget, and we check what is genuinely available through official channels. Before you pay, we confirm in writing the package and what it includes, the event and date, the total price with any fee shown as its own line, who you pay and when, how your tickets will be delivered, and the cancellation and refund terms. Nothing is booked until we have confirmed it in writing. Our terms set this out in full, and how pricing works explains the fee line.

You can browse football hospitality or all events. Questions? The FAQ covers the common ones.

Frequently asked questions