You have put every safeguard in place. IP blocks. Credit card limits. CAPTCHA. Dynamic QR codes. Queueing systems. Still, bots get through.
Tickets sell out fast, then the same tickets surface on secondary platforms at double the price. None of that revenue comes back to you.
After years of trying to control resale, ticketing companies still miss the real business that happens after the initial sale.
Downsides of a Low Ticket Security
Loss of revenue
The global ticket resale market was valued at approximately $3.4 billion in 2024. This is substantial revenue diverted from primary ticket sellers to unauthorized resellers.
The resale market profited over $ 528,000 during The Cure’s Chicago show from just 1,832 tickets. These figures underscore the financial opportunity lost due to uncontrolled secondary sales.
Ticketmaster once revealed that over 50 percent of tickets for major events end up being resold. Unfortunately, not on their own platform. To address that, they introduced SafeTix, a dynamic barcode that refreshes every 15 seconds.
Although the technology sounds advanced, the core problems remain unchanged. Scalpers still find ways around the system. Clubs still miss out on significant revenue, and fans continue to face inflated prices or fake tickets.
Loss of data
Beyond the loss of revenue for the ticketing company and the event organizer, the secondary market creates a second-order problem. You end up with a database full of fake bot accounts while feeding the secondary market with real demand signals. That does not build competitive advantage or data leverage. It builds fraud and stronger competition.
In ticketing, the biggest players grow by turning data into marketing power. Ticketmaster relies on advanced analytics and performance reporting to help organizers understand and expand their audiences. Its “Promoted” tool uses real-time data such as remaining inventory and historic ad metrics to automatically recommend marketing budgets and placements. Good data means good ticketing business.
If you cannot stop bots from looting your platform or channel ticket resale back through your platform, you lose data, market share, and ultimately revenue.
Poor fan experience
Fans pay the price for weak ticket security. Scalping and bots inflate costs and create a frustrating experience where genuine supporters cannot even buy tickets on sale.
During the Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale, Ticketmaster systems were overwhelmed by staggering bot attacks. Sites registered 3.5 billion system requests, nearly quadrupling their previous peak. Queues crashed, waits were long, and many fans could not buy a ticket at face value. One disappointed fan shared that repeated purchase attempts were flagged as bot behavior, with their card charged 41 times, adding up to an extra $ 14,286.70 in fees.
Stories like this show the emotional toll on true fans who are locked out of seats they should have had access to, only to be rerouted toward exploitative secondary markets. The cycle erodes trust and damages brand loyalty for artists, venues, and ticketing platforms alike.
Tickets can never be a part of the solution. Tickets Are The Problem.
Most countermeasures upgrade the old concept rather than rethink it. The ticket remains a transferable token. As long as the token is the gate, it can be transferred, faked, or lost.
The way out is simple and powerful. Replace the token with a verified identity.
Link the permit to enter to a verified identity. A token can move. An identity cannot.
This gradual innovation is now possible because biometric technology has matured. According to official NIST benchmarks, facial recognition software became twenty times better in accuracy and speed. The trend is clear. Face recognition systems are vastly more accurate and reliable, while becoming more accessible. The result is the penetration of facial recognition into more industries. Events and venues are no exception.
Deployments in Brazil and the United States mark the beginning of identity based ticketing as the practical answer to the most painful problems for ticketing companies.
How Biometric Ticketing Technology Works
A fan buys a ticket on your platform and links it to their identity. That ticket now belongs to that person, not just as a name on a ticket but as a digital credential tied to who they are.
If they cannot attend, they can resell the ticket, but only through your platform. Only you can approve a new identity for that ticket. Unauthorised resellers have no mechanism to swap one face for another. You are in control.
Touts cannot flip it on illegal platforms. Bots cannot bulk buy. You keep one hundred percent of both the primary and secondary sales that occur on your rails. You also stop random data inputs. You now know who is buying tickets. Real fans, not anonymous names or fake accounts.
How can ticketing companies evaluate biometric ticketing solutions?
- Start with independent verification. Choose biometric vendors proven in NIST FRVT benchmarks. If they are not in NIST, treat accuracy or speed claims as unverified.
- Check for real-world scale beyond events such as national ID, border control, and public safety. If a system can handle those loads and security thresholds, it can handle peak on-sale traffic.
- Insist on in-house R&D. You want continuous improvement in accuracy, liveness, and privacy.
Why partner with TruCrowd to start identity-based ticketing
TruCrowd is a spin-off of Innovatrics, a global biometrics leader. As a TruCrowd Partner, you get access to top-notch biometric technology wrapped in a seamless identity layer that you can add to your existing flow in less than a day. The priority is to keep people in your apps. The solution is designed for seamless integration with your ticketing systems. We do not replace your product. We add an identity layer that fits what you already offer.
Becoming a TruCrowd Partner is straightforward. First, we validate the business opportunity together, present configuration options, and share technical specs for your team. Second, we support integration of the components into your solution, advise on hardware and software needs, and leverage our partner network with ready-made options. Third, we co-pilot deployment and delivery. We help run the initial pilot, tune performance, identify further commercial opportunities, and roll out the full implementation.
The result is safer, fairer, and more profitable ticketing for clubs, organizers, and the fans who deserve it.
