Lydia Kim
To no one’s surprise, buying tickets to BTS’s first world tour in nearly four years was borderline impossible for some fans, with tickets to their three-day performance in Goyang, South Korea, selling out in minutes, over a hundred thousand fans queuing for that city alone, with hopes of grabbing a seat. Of course, unless one decides to buy scalper resale tickets for 15 million won (~$10,000 USD), or use macro software to automate multiple keyboard commands to automate the ticketing process.1 The situation was far from dissimilar in the esports realm: League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK), considered one of the strongest regional leagues in the world, was experiencing rampant ticket botting and scalping that made the illicit acts a given in the art of esports ticketing.2 So common, in fact, that most fans considered getting tickets to be a lost cause unless one used a macro themselves or a proxy ticketing service that used a macro on the buyer’s behalf.3
Such was the reality that the South Korean government faced when the National Assembly passed amendments to the country’s Public Performance Act, Copyright Act, and National Sports Promotion Act during a plenary session on January 29, 2026. Perhaps aptly considered some of the most sweeping pieces of anti-scalping legislation the world has seen, the amendments prohibit all methods of ticket scalping, put in place a whistleblower reward system, and create a legal obligation for ticketing platforms and intermediaries to take measures to prevent scalping, or be confronted with hefty administrative fines themselves.4 Ticket scalpers are penalized up to 50 times the price they resell at and are required to forfeit their profits.5 Furthermore, both “illicit purchase” (the purchase of tickets for resale purposes) and “illicit sale” (the sale of tickets above face value) are completely banned.6
Previous iterations of legislation were more appropriately characterized as individual bot hunts, in that scalpers were only prosecutable when caught using macros. Yet, given the difficulty of proving systematic macro usage (plus the pittance of a punitive damage award that failed to deter scalpers), the statute failed to change the status quo of the ticket-scalping market.7 By removing the macro requirement entirely, criminalizing all scalping practices, and amplifying the penalty, the government effectively shifted from a reactive to a proactive regulatory stance. In doing so, they likely hoped that scalping would be viewed as unprofitable altogether.
In a sense, this line of thought is understandable: by moving the risk-reward ratio to one where the scale tips heavily towards the risk outweighing the reward, scalpers may become disincentivized from pursuing the practice if they may hypothetically be fined 25 million won (~$17,310 USD) for selling a ticket above face value at 500,000 won (~350 USD). This is in stark contrast to how previous legislation mandated that damages were equivalent to the sale price.8
But other than focusing on the individuals, the law is perhaps equally notable for targeting the ticketing platforms and intermediaries—the gatekeepers. Effectively, South Korean ticket sellers and marketplaces like Interpark, Yes24, and Ticketbay now have a legal obligation to implement mechanisms to deter scalping and resale.9 The regulations mandate the imposition of administrative fines if such channels fail to comply with government data requests or ignore suspicious behavior.10 In doing so, it seems the rules aim to create a level of systemic responsibility that destroys the scalping market, both top-down and bottom-up. And by all means, there seems to be little pushback from the regulated. For example, a Riot Games Korea representative mentioned shortly after the amendments passed that they “have already strengthened monitoring against scalping and carried out eradication campaigns . . .[and they] plan to faithfully fulfill the obligations [they] must comply with, in accordance with the details that will be promulgated and implemented going forward.”11
It remains to be seen, however, how and if the amendments will truly change the Korean entertainment and sports industries in the long run. While the laws seem comprehensive and powerful on paper, scalping and macro-usage are deeply ingrained in racing culture for in-demand goods. In fact, macros are sometimes said to be used even by college students in non-ticketing contexts, such as speed-based class registration.12 From baseball games to esports matches, and all the way to K-pop concerts, scalping and resale permeate every facet of Korean ticketing, and it would be unsurprising if, as visible ticketing platforms like Ticketbay are more heavily regulated, transactions shift to offshore, informal marketplaces like X (Twitter) instead.
[1]Press Release, “K-Pop Star’s Concert Tickets Reselling for 5 Million Won? This Practice is About to End”, Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (Sep. 12, 2024), https://www.acrc.go.kr/board.es?mid=a20301000000&bid=62&tag=&act=view&list_no=80109&nPage=; Kim Jae-Heun, How Much is Too Much for K-pop Concert Tickets?, The Korea Herald (Jan. 26, 2026), https://www.koreaherald.com/article/10662912; Jin Eun-Soo, No More $10,000 BTS Tickets? Korea Passes Laws Banning Scalping, Piracy, Korea JoongAng Daily (Jan. 29, 2026), https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-01-29/culture/lifeStyle/Korea-passes-laws-banning-ticket-scalping-illegal-Kcontent-distribution-amid-BTS-world-tour-frenzy/2512086; 최연진 [Choi Yeon-Jin], ‘댈티’와 ‘아옮’을 아시나요 [Do You Know ‘Proxy Ticketing’ and ‘ID Transfer’], 56 KISO저널 [KISO Journal] (Sep. 10, 2024), https://journal.kiso.or.kr/?p=12874 (explaining proxy ticketing and macros) (S. Kor.).
[2] Joey Morris, Is the LCK the Strongest Region in LoL Esports?, Esports Insider (Mar. 17, 2025), https://esportsinsider.com/2025/03/is-the-lck-the-strongest-region-in-lol-esports; Embarrassed_You_2329, Ultimate LCK Ticketing Guide (For Foreigners and Residents), Reddit (Jul. 18, 2024), https://www.reddit.com/r/lck/comments/1e64tp9/ultimate_lck_ticketing_guide_for_foreigners_and/.
[3] Choi, supra note 1.
[4]Charente Carr, South Korea Just Solved Ticket Scalping. Here’s Why America Can’t, MSN (Jan. 30, 2026), https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/south-korea-just-solved-ticket-scalping-here-s-why-america-can-t/ar-AA1VmtJ6; 이두현 [Lee Doo-Hyun], '수수료 50배 과징금' 암표근절법 국회 통과... LCK에도 적용 [‘50 Times Fine’ Anti-Scaling Law Passes National Assembly… Applies to LCK Too], Inven (Jan. 29, 2026), https://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=313230 (S. Kor.).
[5] Lee Byung-Ryeol, “Complete Ban on Ticketing Scalping”: Harsher Penalties for Reselling Performance Tickets Above Face Value, The Asia Business Daily (Jan. 29, 2026) https://cm.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2026012916183452904.
[6]Id.
[7]Id.
[8] Jin, supra note 1.
[9] Lee, supra note 4.
[10]Id.
[11]Id.
[12]Choi, supra note 1; Won Dong-Wook, Macros Make Buying Tickets a Little Too Fast for Many, Korea JoongAng Daily (May 16, 2022), https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2022/05/16/national/socialAffairs/Korea-macro-programs-tickets/20220516183023938.html.