The phenomenon of buying and reselling tickets for profit, known in the United Kingdom as ticket touting, can offer insights into the online–offline overlaps of contemporary illicit-market activities. While the technological advancements of the last decades have revolutionized the way in which tickets for U.K. concerts and sporting events are bought and sold, traditional forms of offline touting are arguably far from extinct. And yet the focus and efforts of campaigners, the media, and of (some) members of parliament have been dedicated entirely to the online aspect of illegal ticket resale. Indeed, legislation banning the use of “bots” to purchase tickets was introduced in 2017, and additional measures that only target the online methods of a so-called new generation of touts are again being considered. Empirical data collected through observations outside music venues and football stadia alongside in-depth qualitative interviews with contemporary touts, however, reveal a very different picture. Not only is street touting surviving and thriving, new evidence suggests that the touts’ traditional street spirit and deviant savoir-faire are now effectively being emulated by the same online resale companies that stakeholders are trying to target. In fact, the failed attempts to curb this much-vilified practice can in part be attributed to a widespread neglect of the touts’ traditional offline practices. In particular, the touts’ use of creative strategies to deceive and manipulate consumers, and to exploit longstanding, favorable connections within the official, primary market, continue to elude experts. The article situates touting alongside other illicit-market phenomena that, although impacted by recent technological innovations, still rely on original forms of offline offending. While street touting is seldom mentioned in the debates on regulating tickets, it is the very connection between the illegal resale market's online and offline aspects that could shed light on the areas that most require attention and reform, beyond technology and the bots.

中文翻译：

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街头精神尚未消退：对机器人和非法在线转售时代英国门票兜售街头方法的犯罪学探索

购买和转售门票以获取利润的现象（在英国被称为门票兜售）可以为了解当代非法市场活动的线上线下重叠提供见解。尽管过去几十年的技术进步彻底改变了英国音乐会和体育赛事门票的买卖方式，但传统形式的线下兜售可以说还远未消亡。然而，活动家、媒体和（一些）议会成员的关注点和努力完全集中在非法门票转售的在线方面。事实上，禁止使用“机器人”购买门票的立法已于 2017 年出台，并且正在再次考虑仅针对所谓新一代兜售者的在线方法的其他措施。然而，通过音乐场所和足球场外的观察以及对当代吹捧者的深入定性采访收集的经验数据揭示了一幅截然不同的画面。街头兜售不仅幸存下来并蓬勃发展，新的证据表明，兜售者的传统街头精神和离经叛道的技巧现在正被利益相关者试图瞄准的同一在线转售公司所效仿。事实上，遏制这种饱受诟病的做法的失败，部分原因在于人们普遍忽视了兜售者传统的线下做法。特别是，兜售者利用创造性策略来欺骗和操纵消费者，并利用官方一级市场中长期存在的有利关系，仍然让专家们困惑不已。这篇文章将兜售与其他非法市场现象放在一起，尽管受到最近技术创新的影响，但仍然依赖于原始形式的线下犯罪。虽然街头兜售在有关门票监管的辩论中很少被提及，但非法转售市场线上和线下方面之间的联系可以揭示除技术和机器人之外最需要关注和改革的领域。