13 June 2012: A British company was today confirmed as one of the applicants in The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) process to create new internet addresses alongside .com and .co.uk. Many applicants for new domains will be from multinational organisations seeking to defend global brands, or are businesses based on buying and selling popular domain names. The Dot Tickets Organisation is different as it plans to use its chosen domain to innovate in a market that has become mired by fraud and bad practices.

The Dot Tickets Organisation was created with the sole aim of protecting consumers from the multi-billion-dollar problem of internet ticket fraud. Led by ticketing industry veteran Steve Machin, the independent company is supported by some of the biggest players in the UK ticketing business. Its plan is to create a new .tickets domain to help consumers buy tickets safely and securely.

Dot Tickets proposes that new .tickets domain names should only be available to vetted ticket websites which meet agreed standards of consumer protection and security to give consumers peace of mind when purchasing tickets. It would be a ‘Kitemark’ for legitimate sites. With entertainment tickets, for instance, fans could seek out www.festival.tickets, www.venue.tickets or www.band.tickets knowing that any organizations using these addresses would have met stringent conditions and so can be trusted for ticket sales.

Backed by a significant consumer-awareness campaign, the intention is that .tickets will become a gold standard of trust for consumers and that all above-board ticket businesses would want to be associated with the new domain.

With the rapid increase in online ticket sales via unregulated internet sites, many sports, music and other live event fans are being defrauded by unscrupulous vendors. There are many scams which see innocent people buying tickets that either never arrive, are fake, or have been cancelled or otherwise invalidated leaving fans out in the cold and out of pocket. Recent research indicates that 1 in 5 people in the UK know someone that has been ripped off in this way.

UK Government figures suggest that ticket fraud in the sport and entertainment industries cost consumers, event organisers and credit card providers more than £168m in 2010 alone (National Fraud Office Report 2011).

Dot Tickets Organisation founder Steve Machin said, "Ticket fraud is the scourge of the live entertainment business, and causes great distress and hardship to the consumers who are caught out. We believe that our unique .tickets proposal, which is already attracting widespread industry support, is an independent and open structural solution that can be controlled, trusted and communicated simply and consistently to ticket buyers worldwide."

Supporting comments

Jon Webster, CEO of Music Managers Forum: “Stamping out fraud in the ticketing industry is a significant challenge for the live entertainment industry and one that the MMF feels strongly about as it has a direct impact on our clients’ customers – the fans of live music.  We believe that The Dot Tickets Organisation application and proposal will create a safe, secure and trusted environment online, making it easier for fans to spot scams online and to visit only trusted websites for ticket sales and information”.

“STAR supports the aims and objectives of The Dot Tickets Organisation which is developing a structural solution to the challenges faced by many consumers when seeking safe and secure tickets online. We strongly support innovative initiatives such as this that will deliver high levels of awareness and protection for customers in the ticket marketplace. We look forward to working with The Dot Tickets Organisation as they continue to build coalitions within the ticketing industry and across borders.”  Jonathan Brown, Secretary of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers.