The Russian parliament’s upper house passed a bill Wednesday calling for upwards of $30,000 fines for anyone caught scalping tickets to the Sochi Games.
Fines would start at five or ten times the face value of the ticket for individuals trying to gain profit off a small number of tickets. The heaviest fines would come into play if the scalping was done on a large scale level, or as a business.
“We as Olympic organizers have an obligation under our contract with the International Olympic Committee to prevent speculative price hikes for hotels and Olympic tickets,” organizing committee head Alexander Zhukov said at a press conference.
Zhukov added that that room prices in Sochi will also be capped during the Games, respective to certain hotel categories, so that owner’s don’t price-out fans coming to see the events.
The bill still needs to be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, which is likely to come only after he explains how the inspiration for the myth of Santa came from this one time he gave a boy a present.
