By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
The base camp of the French XV for the Rugby World Cup, in Rueil Malmaison. PANORAMIC
A complaint accuses an individual of having “set up a structured system” of illicit resale of tickets, in order to resell them at a considerable margin.
An investigation was opened at the end of August into suspicions of illicit resale of tickets for the Rugby World Cup 2023 whose opening match takes place Friday evening in Seine-Saint-Denis, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday, requested by AFP. The brigade for the repression of economic delinquency (BRDE) was contacted, said the public prosecutor. These investigations follow a complaint filed on August 17 in Paris by the organizing committee for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which accuses an individual of having “set up a structured system» of illicit resale of tickets, according to the complaint consulted by AFP.
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A “structured system” of resale
The public interest group (GIP) France 2023 markets all tickets giving access to the 48 matches of the World Cup, which begins Friday evening and runs until October 28. But on July 20, the GIP ticketing service noticed that a person was purchasing 150 seats “with different blue cards», Relates the complaint. The GIP accuses him of having thenset up a structured system» (in particular via a summary table of dates, unit price, payment by transfer or Paypal, etc.) in order to resell the tickets with a substantial margin: a place at 170 euros is thus offered for resale for “1,000 euros“.
In a civil judgment rendered on July 6 in another case of resale of tickets for the 2023 World Cup, the Paris court recalled that the GIP monopoly was aimed at “protection against increases in the cost of tickets resulting from their resale” And “the security of the event by controlling the identity of spectators“.