Ticket Scalpers Already At Work In Tulsa

With ticket sales underway for the BOK Center, many of the tickets are being sold twice, through scalpers.  It's a practice the city would like to limit, but probably can't.  The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports measures have been put in place to limit scalping.

Tickets always cost more than people want to pay, but sometimes people willingly buy as many tickets as they can and then resell them at a huge profit.  It's called scalping.  And, there's no law against it here.

Celine Dion tickets, for the Tulsa show, go for $1200 dollars on the internet, where a scalper has jacked up the price in hopes of making a huge profit.  For Derrick Dyson, who works downtown, it's the market at work.

"It's kind of the way it goes.  You've got things like Craig's List, it's easy to find now," said Tulsan Derrick Dyson.

But, for the BOK Center's management, it's a common problem without a good solution.

"We sell to patrons as they come up to the window or online, what they do with the ticket after that is out of our control," said BOK Center Assistant Manager Jerry Goldman.

Scalping is nothing new, but with a new venue, Tulsa is a bigger part of the scalping marketplace.  Tickets for BOK Center events, even those that aren't yet on sale, are on many sites and at many prices.

Even if there was a scalping ordinance in Tulsa, it wouldn't change internet sales, and that's where most people buy their tickets.  The people at the BOK Center say the only way to make sure you're getting a legitimate ticket that isn't scalped is to buy it through their website, bokcenter.com

"Our tickets are showing up on websites before they go on sale and what they're doing is selling ticket futures, speculating they're going to get that ticket.  It's mind boggling," said BOK Center Assistant Manager Jerry Goldman.

The BOK Center box office sells tickets for the lowest available price which is available through them in person, by phone and online.

Dyson thinks whatever people pay is fine because the performers get their cut first.

"Also I'm not too sympathetic to what they're losing to scalpers, they make plenty for what they do," said Tulsan Derrick Dyson.

The BOK Center managers says it's up to promoters to limit ticket sales, but so far no extra restrictions are in place and that's why some ticket prices have soared.