Arsenal respond to black market ticket report | OneFootball

BBC Sport journalists were able to buy and use black market tickets for an Arsenal game, among other clubs, according to a report.

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Tom Grundy reports for the BBC that an investigation has revealed that thousands of Premier League tickets are being sold on the black market, with the companies behind the schemes based at a number of overseas locations.

The companies are believed to be using memberships and computer software to obtain tickets through club online ticket platforms.

BBC journalists were easily able to buy tickets through the black market, including for the Arsenal game against Nottingham Forest at the weekend. The journalists then verified that the tickets were valid by successfully gaining entry to the game.

emirates stadium outside

The tickets reportedly cost two to four times face value, and Grundy adds that some were sent via UK phone numbers on Whatsapp. The journalists also managed to buy tickets for Manchester City’s game against Manchester United, as well as Everton and West Ham fixtures at the weekend.

Arsenal have responded to the investigation, saying: “Since introducing digital ticketing and a new ballot system, we have identified and cancelled almost 74,000 accounts attempting to obtain tickets in unauthorised ways and over 30,000 suspicious entries have been removed from ballots.

“We’ve banned over 7,000 memberships this season alone.

“We run multiple anti-touting operations every season, including specialist third-party operatives on the ground, regular seat checks, and home and away ticket collections at matches.

“We have also increased the level of protection on our ticketing platforms, which has resulted in us blocking many IP addresses linked to suspected bot activity.”

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

“We continue to work with our supporter groups, specialist anti-touting partners, and Police on our approach so we continue to take the strongest possible action against touting,” Arsenal added.

“We encourage supporters to report any suspicious behaviour to stewards, the Police, or our online services.”