The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) said Sunday it has referred 186 online postings suspected of high-priced or high-volume ticket scalping to police, as illegal resales surge with the start of the professional baseball season.
The ministry said monitoring and tip-offs between February and March identified approximately 16,000 suspected scalping cases involving pro baseball tickets. Scalping activity spiked around the March 28–29 opening games, with tickets sold at up to approximately 13 times their face value. Investigators also found signs of organized trading, including single accounts securing large numbers of seats and reselling them. The ministry analyzed cases involving bulk and consecutive-seat sales, excessive markups and repeated transactions from the same accounts before referring them to the National Police Agency.
The MCST views ticket scalping as a serious illegal act that undermines fair access to sporting events. The ministry said it continuously monitors online transactions through the Pro Sports Online Scalping Report Center operated by pro sports associations. It has also significantly toughened penalties by strictly enforcing the National Sports Promotion Act and related laws. All illegal resales are now prohibited regardless of whether automated purchasing software was used. Penalties include fines of up to 50 times the sale price, and a reward system for tipsters has been introduced.
The ministry noted that the scalping problem has worsened alongside growing spectator demand for pro baseball. "Ticket scalping is not a simple transaction between individuals — it is a clear illegal act that destroys fairness in the sports industry and infringes on the public's right to attend games," Minister Choi Hwi-young said. "However, government crackdowns alone have limitations, and a shift in public awareness is absolutely necessary," Choi added, according to the MCST.