[Gastonleruanich]

Are scalping tickets illegal in the UK?

Touting? Yes.

It is not like the window of opportunity just opened up, you probably had years to acquire tickets.

They haven't been on sale for years. And when they were they were allocated using a lottery system and hard to get hold of. They've only put more on sale now because of the empty seat issue.

What I dislike is this lack of transparency of how the system works. Just tell me if there are tickets left or there aren't, and if they are just give them to me; don't put me in a damn "queue"!

--- Post Update ---

I'm sure the only tickets available are for bullshit sports like synchronized swimming or badminton. In fact, paying enormous sums to see any sport that you can watch on the telly strikes me as a rather dopey thing to do.

Actually they've been available for all sort of events: e.g. athletics, swimming, boxing, basketball, handball and a ton of others.

Also watching on TV is not the same experience. Have you never been to a live sporting event?