Complaints spur Sask. review of Ticketmaster's resale services

Saskatchewan's justice minister says his office will review ticket resale services after fielding consumer complaints about a select batch of pricey tickets being held for an upcoming Elton John concert.

Justice Minister Don Morgan said consumers complained they were being rerouted from Ticketmaster's main website to a resale site.

"People were worried that the reseller's market appeared to be too quick on the scene, and were questioning the propriety of how the reseller was tied directly — it was a subsidiary of Ticketmaster," Morgan said.

In the past, Ticketmaster has defended its resale site, TicketsNow, saying it is just giving the public what it wants: secure access to tickets they don't mind paying more money for.

"You can't regulate away the laws of supply and demand and, unfortunately for a lot of shows, particularly now in the internet era, demand just far, far exceeds supply," Ticketmaster vice-president Joe Freeman told CBC News earlier this week.

The company is currently lobbying the Ontario and Manitoba governments to review rules banning the resale of tickets.