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.