--- description: Illegal software has allowed brokers to purchase large inventories of event tickets making it hard for consumers to access concerts and shows at face value title: Here's Why It's So Hard to Get Tickets at Face Value image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0661bd3d6674fea/69887b15a988ca19b86b6565/ticket-stubs-concerts-shows.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's Why It's So Hard to Get Tickets at Face Value  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 28, 2016 5:12 PM CUT  Assorted tickets Assorted ticketsPNC—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Jan 28, 2016 5:12 PM CUT Illegal software has allowed brokers to purchase large inventories of event tickets, making it hard for consumers to access concerts and shows at face value, according to a [report](http://www.ag.ny.gov/pdfs/Ticket%5FSales%5FReport.pdf "undefined") released by the New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Brokers used software known as ticket bots to automate the purchase of large quantities of tickets and later resold the tickets with markups that sometimes exceeded 1,000%. “The problem is not simply that demand for prime seats exceeds supply,” the report says. “Ticketing, to put it bluntly, is a fixed game.” Many of the brokers illegally reselling large numbers of tickets were unlicensed, according to the report. Schneiderman’s office has contacted ticket vendors like Ticketmaster to create a process to reduce the number of illegal sales to brokers, according to the report. Scheiderman’s office has taken an active role in a slew of cases including investigations into [NFL ticket prices](http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/01/27/nfl-antitrust-investigation-new-york-attorney-general-ticket-pricing-report "undefined"), [fantasy sports betting sites](http://time.com/4175933/fantasy-sports-draftkings-fanduel-new-york/ "undefined") and whether [Exxon Mobil lied about climate change](http://time.com/4101957/new-york-exxon-mobil-investigation/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4198225/tickets-illegal-software-investigation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4198225/tickets-illegal-software-investigation/"},"headline":"Here's Why It's So Hard to Get Tickets at Face Value","datePublished":"2016-01-28T17:12:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:32:21.200Z","description":"The New York Attorney General released the findings of an investigation","url":"https://time.com/4198225/tickets-illegal-software-investigation/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0661bd3d6674fea/69887b15a988ca19b86b6565/ticket-stubs-concerts-shows.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb0661bd3d6674fea/69887b15a988ca19b86b6565/ticket-stubs-concerts-shows.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Assorted tickets","caption":"Assorted tickets","creditText":"PNC—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4198225/tickets-illegal-software-investigation/","name":"Here's Why It's So Hard to Get Tickets at Face Value"}}]}] ```