Tackling fake ticket issue and adding value

PHOTO: SIMON HENDERSON
PHOTO: SIMON HENDERSON
Fresh ideas from University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic students is what Startup Dunedin’s Audacious programme is all about. This week in the series, reporter Simon Henderson speaks to Cameron Templer about a new way to buy tickets.

Some of the most memorable moments for many people can be enjoying a favourite performer or sports team in large venues such as the Forsyth Barr Stadium.

But for some, a big day out can be spoilt when a ticket turns out to be fake.

Finding a better way to combat the fake tickets is Yezmac founder Cameron Templer.

In the United States alone fake tickets could cost up to $US500 million (about $NZ794 million) a year, Mr Templer said.

"It is a really big issue.

"It’s something that, you know, a lot of people have issues with."

In particular secondary reselling sites could sell fake or scammed tickets.

"So they would sell forged tickets or they would sell a ticket multiple times, like ten times over."

Mr Templer’s solution was to create tickets using a blockchain to generate non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Yezmac founder Cameron Templer says NFTs can turn your event ticket into a collectable item....
Yezmac founder Cameron Templer says NFTs can turn your event ticket into a collectable item. PHOTO: SIMON HENDERSON
This made the tickets immutable, meaning they could not be changed, altered or modified.

Unique proof of ownership could be established.

The NFT ticket would be inside a digital "wallet" and when a ticket operator scanned the ticket it would be able to confirm a unique data set was attached to the ticket.

An additional feature of the NFT tickets was the ability to add value before and after the event.

Additional products or services could be attached to the ticket.

Because the NFT ticket was unique it became a new kind of collectable.

People would have a record that they attended a big event like an All Blacks test.

"People like to express themselves in what they spent."

People could show on social media sites the proof they attended, and just like a physical ticket it became a unique record of being part of a special concert or event.

"The collectable part is a massive selling point."