US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

      Sec. 53-289. Ticket scalping. No person shall sell, offer for sale or attempt to sell any ticket, privilege or license of admission to an entertainment event, including, but not limited to, any place of amusement, arena, stadium, theater, performance, sport, exhibition or athletic contest given in this state, at a price greater than the price, including tax, printed thereon, or at a price greater than the price fixed for admission, including tax, and a reasonable service charge for services actually rendered not to exceed three dollars. The owner or operator of the property on which such entertainment event is to be held or is being held may authorize, in writing, any person to sell such ticket, privilege or license of admission at a price in excess of that authorized under this section. Such writing shall specify the price for which such ticket, privilege or license of admission is to be sold. Any person violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of ticket scalping. Ticket scalping is a class C misdemeanor for a first offense, a class A misdemeanor for a second offense and a class D felony for any subsequent offense. The sale of each ticket, privilege or license of admission in violation of any provision of this section shall constitute a separate offense.

      (1949 Rev., S. 8666; P.A. 83-585; P.A. 84-546, S. 124, 173.)

      History: P.A. 83-585 prohibited sale of tickets "to an entertainment event" including any "arena, stadium, theater" at increased price, deleted the limitation that the event be given "under the auspices of an educational institution", authorized a service charge not to exceed three dollars, authorized the owner or operator of the property to permit a person to sell a ticket at a specified higher price, and replaced the penalty of a fine of not more than one hundred dollars or imprisonment of not more than thirty days or both with a penalty of a class C misdemeanor, class A misdemeanor or class D felony depending on whether it was, respectively, a first, second or subsequent offense; P.A. 84-546 made technical changes, substituting "section" for "subsection" where appearing.

      Cited. 217 C. 404-415. Appropriate to apply definition of criminal contempt under Sec. 53a-49 in determining whether defendant violated section. 246 C. 721. Advertising is not prohibited by section and legislative history supports this conclusion. Id. Statute proscribes only conduct within the state; court will not apply a criminal statute extraterritorially without significant indication that legislature intended that effect and the legislative history indicates it was not intended to apply to out-of-state conduct. Id.