SerpApi.Org
A baseball fan wanting to buy a resale ticket for a 2026 KBO postseason game may no longer have to pay more than double the original price, not because prices have dropped, but because resellers may no longer be able to profit from ticket resales.
As ticketing in Korea has become a race between fans and ticket scalpers armed with software that automates the buying process, the government has tightened control and will implement stronger measures starting Aug. 28 for those trying to profit from reselling tickets.
Under the current law, reselling tickets is punishable only when it takes place at venues such as stadiums or concert halls. The revised law instead targets repeated or commercial resales of both sports and concert tickets above the original purchase price regardless of where they occur.
A total of 259,334 suspected cases of ticket resale transactions in sports were reported from January to August of last year, about 40 times more than 6,237 cases in 2020, according to data from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Professional Sports Association in 2025.
Until recently, scalpers continued to list tickets at prices far exceeding original prices, leaving fans with the ultimatum of paying inflated prices or missing much anticipated events. But the revised law could give actual event goers a leg up in the race to secure seats.
How scalpers drive up prices
When it comes to booking tickets right after sales open, it is nearly impossible for true fans to beat scalpers, as they often act in organized groups and utilize automated software that expedites the payment process.
This was the case for a group that police said on July 8 had been booked without detention for purchasing multiple KBO game tickets using software that automatically entered login credentials on ticketing websites.
Several members in the group reportedly told the police that they even used their family members’ accounts in order to buy more tickets, as a single account could purchase only up to eight tickets.
One person in the group was accused of making a profit of 390 million won ($262,000) through ticket resales from September 2024 up until recently.
In a separate case, the Culture Ministry said it analyzed online ticket scalping reports and monitoring data collected between Jan. 5 and June 16, and on June 23 referred 15 people suspected of selling large numbers of tickets to police for further investigation.
When scalpers succeed in securing all of the best seats, fans are forced to pay premium prices.
One seat with a good view for a first-round KBO playoff game between the Samsung Lions and SSG Landers in October of last year, for example, was listed for 500,000 won, nearly 30 times its original price of 17,000 won.
Some fans, however, opt to pay the inflated prices since some games are once-in-a-decade contests.
"I bought a resale ticket for a 2025 KBO playoff game between the Hanwha Eagles and the Samsung Lions," an Eagles fan surnamed Kim told the Korea JoongAng Daily on Friday. "I don't remember which game in the series it was, but I paid about two and a half to three times the original price. I had just gotten into baseball at the time and was really excited about it. I kept trying to buy a ticket through the official site, but I couldn't, so I ended up buying a resale ticket because I didn't want to miss the game."
The 2025 season was the first time the Eagles had advanced to the postseason in seven years.
What's to change
Making profits from ticket resales will likely be difficult under revisions to the Public Performance Act and National Sports Promotion Act, set to take effect on Aug. 28.
The revised law prohibits reselling tickets above the original price for profit regardless of whether automated software was used. Before the new law, only the use of automated software to buy and resell tickets was banned, making it possible for people to buy multiple tickets manually and resell them at much higher prices.
For those who made profits through reselling tickets, the government will impose administrative fines up to 50 times the prices sold.
“Our objective is not to reduce the amount of resale tickets, but to eradicate them 100 percent,” Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Chae Hwi-young said on March 5.
Whether the government has the capacity to track every resale ticket transaction is unclear, but its new reporting system could come in handy. The government has designated an agency to receive reports of illegal transactions, with individuals eligible for compensation for reporting violations.
Resale market shift
Private organizers are also stepping up their own efforts to combat ticket scalping.
Jeju SK on Tuesday designated tickets for a football friendly between the K League 1 club and European giants Bayern Munich scheduled for Aug. 4 as “ineligible for resale" on secondhand marketplace platform Karrot.
On Karrot, sellers usually post the ticket price, seat location and game details in a listing. Buyers then contact the seller through Karrot Chat, agree on the transaction and receive the ticket after making payment.
"Karrot will take action under its internal policies, including hiding listings for the match tickets, if they are posted on the platform or reported by users," Jeju SK said in a statement.
No listings for the match tickets were available on Karrot as of Friday.
E-commerce giant Coupang has made a similar move to prevent resales for the upcoming Coupang Play Series — an annual exhibition of football friendlies involving European teams — set to take place at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul in August.
Those with resold tickets will not even be allowed into the stadium, as spectators will be permitted to enter only after staff verify that they have logged into the Coupang Play app using the ticket purchaser's account and downloaded the tickets.
With the revised law, ticket resales will constantly come under scrutiny from the government and public.
This does not mean that selling tickets for their original prices will also be banned, however, as the law targets people who “repeatedly or commercially resell tickets for more than they paid.”
As of Friday, multiple KBO tickets were listed on Karrot for their original prices.
But private organizers may separately restrict ticket transfers or resale through their own policies, as Jeju SK has done.
"I believe regulation is necessary because ticket scalping leaves longtime baseball fans and some groups, including older adults, unable to get tickets to games, while more people continue to make unfair profits from reselling tickets," Eagles fan Kim said.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]
