
DATE: Thursday, September 18, 1997          TAG: 9709180524

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  109 lines

ELTON JOHN'S CONCERT SOLD OUT, BUT BUYERS CAN STILL GET TICKETS SCALPERS WILL PART WITH THEM - FOR A PRICE

If you were unlucky in the Elton John ticket lottery, you've still got a chance to hear the bespectacled showman Oct. 11 at the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater.

The concert sold out in 36 minutes Saturday, but good seats are available. If you're willing, that is, to slink into the underworld of ticket scalpers, pay nearly triple the ticket's value, and help someone make money by breaking the law. Which is exactly what I did.

The world of ticket scalpers isn't as shadowy as it used to be. No longer do you visit a cigar-chomping guy named Moe. Today's scalpers advertise in newspapers, set up toll-free numbers and accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

They pay people to saturate ticket lines, gobble up the maximum allowable number of tickets, and then ship the booty to the scalpers' headquarters.

The price for a scalped $50 Elton John ticket is now $135.

``There's obviously a mark-up,'' said Richard Salas, an Arlington-based scalper who sold me two Elton John tickets Tuesday. ``I have to pay my people to stand in line, I've got to pay for advertising and for the phone. I'm going to have to disconnect the phone for a few days because it's getting expensive. It's taking half of my profits. They charge me even for the hang-ups.''

I didn't tell Salas I was a reporter. When I identified myself to people at two other scalping companies, both based in Maryland, they hung up.

But, posing as a ticket buyer with nearly $300 to spend, I found Salas willing to chat about his business.

``This was kind of an experiment, actually,'' he said. ``I'm starting to branch out into your area. Only the major shows, not Shakespearean festivals and things like that.''

Salas works out of his Arlington home, running a much less sophisticated operation than the two other scalping companies advertising Elton John tickets in The Virginian-Pilot.

Salas' minions gathered 30 tickets to the Elton John show, he said. In just six hours on Tuesday, he recorded 124 messages from Hampton Roads residents calling his toll-free line. At 4:30 p.m., he had eight tickets left.

Salas sent the tickets c.o.d. through Federal Express to my office in Norfolk. Was the transaction legal?

Scalping a ticket in Virginia Beach, where the 20,000-seat amphitheater attracts top entertainers, is banned by a city ordinance. It is also prohibited in Norfolk.

Portsmouth and Chesapeake do not have scalping laws, according to their city attorneys' offices. Neither city has a venue large enough to draw events that draw scalpers.

The crime is a Class 3 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $500. Ticket scalping is rarely prosecuted locally. In the past six years, there have been just three convictions in Virginia Beach courts for ticket scalping, records show.

It's only illegal to resell the tickets for profit, not to buy them or resell them for face value or less.

Bill Reid, president of Cellar Door Entertainment, which promotes events at the amphitheater, said scalping doesn't happen on the same scale here as it does in other major metropolitan areas. This area doesn't draw as many blockbuster acts. Few shows at the GTE Virginia Beach Amphitheater sell out.

Although there was scalping for the Jimmy Buffett concerts, nothing has matched the buzz over the Elton John show, Reid said.

The singer's participation in Princess Diana's funeral and the release of the ballad he sang there have vaulted Elton John, already an icon, into the world spotlight.

``It's as big as anything I've been associated with,'' said Reid, who has worked in concert promotion for nearly 20 years.

To combat scalping, ticket sellers limit the number of transactions per customer. For the Elton John concert, tickets were limited to eight per buyer.

Scalpers paid people to stand in line and snatch up what they could.

``That's going to happen any time you have a small supply and a large demand,'' Reid said. ``It's capitalism and it happens, but that doesn't make it right.''

Reid said he's also heard of scalpers selling counterfeit tickets. That leaves the ticket buyer with a lighter wallet and no seat at the show.

``These are ticket scalpers. You should question their credibility,'' Reid said. ``Anyone who is dealing with someone who is doing an illegal activity assumes all risks. Anyone who buys a ticket from a non-authorized source - you take your chances.''

Reid said he discourages radio stations and newspapers from accepting advertising from ticket scalpers. This newspaper does accept ads from scalpers.

``We may need to take another look at that policy. To my knowledge, we've never had a complaint,'' said Dale Bowen, director of The Virginian-Pilot's classified advertising department. ``We accept those ads because, to our knowledge, there was no criminal intent until you alerted me.''

Patty Garrett, a classified advertising director, said the ``Tickets'' category will begin carrying an explanation that certain sales may be illegal.

My two tickets arrived by FedEx barely 19 hours after I placed the order. Section 205, Row F, seats 26 and 27. That's about 30 rows from the stage.

The total, including the shipping charge: $285, paid for by The Virginian-Pilot.

The tickets were then donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

These Elton John concert tickets went for $135 each.

Graphic

THE ORDINANCE

It shall be unlawful for any person to resell, for profit, any

ticket for admission to any sporting event, theatrical production,

lecture, motion picture or any other event open to the public for

which tickets are ordinarily sold, except in the case of religious,

charitable or educational organizations where all or a portion of