The PDC World Darts Championship is the sport's biggest spectacle but thousands of avid fans have been left outraged after failing to secure tickets for the event.
Tickets went on sale to PDC.tv subscribers - who pay an annual fee of £50 - on Monday, but there was widespread anger on Twitter when they struggled to secure them through the PDC website.
A second priority sale then took place on Tuesday and fans were again left disappointed after failing to secure seats for Alexandra Palace in London over the Christmas period.
Fans encountered issues on the website amid the widespread demand, with the PDC urging them to continue to check throughout the day
However, the replies painted a different picture with people claiming they had spent hours on the site only to be stonewalled with an automated message.
Been on this since 12pm pic.twitter.com/fpQtvYU2sM
— jonnywoolven1 (@jonnywoolven1) July 29, 2024
Tickets have since reappeared at significantly higher costs on resale websites like Viagogo, leading darts fans to believe that bots and touts had acquired tickets them.
The PDC released a statement claiming they had successfully hindered tens of thousands of 'malicious' efforts to secure tickets and added that any tickets on resale sites that violate their policiies will be cancelled and returned to the official sale.
Despite tens of thousands of malicious attempts to acquire tickets, the SeeTickets software’s security and verification process made it extremely difficult for any of these attempts to get past the initial landing page, and only a handful of completed transactions were flagged as being suspicious – all of which have been cancelled," the official statement read.
"Whilst some fans will point to tickets being listed on resale websites, the PDC wishes to point out that where tickets can be identified as being resold in contravention of our advertised terms & conditions, the original ticket bookings will be cancelled and the tickets will be returned to sale through SeeTickets."
Darts fan outrage after PDC World Darts Championship ticket sale
Outraged fans appear to have taken the PDC's statement with a pinch of salt, urging that all tickets be rendered void and resold.
One fan wrote: "I genuinely think the PDC should declare all tickets sold void, and start afresh. How can genuine fans, who have paid an annual membership get no further than a black screen."
Many shared those sentiments.
Poor from the PDC, shambles all round, plenty of tickets appearing on resale sites for triple the price.
A lot of PDC TV members have missed out on a pre-sale which was a free for all, stricter measures needed when it comes to how many sessions one person (bot) can book. https://t.co/GOUmt7LV6Z— Matt Astbury (@AstburyMatt) July 30, 2024
Load of bollocks, every single ticket sold is on resale sites, dont see a single member manage to get a ticket. Could’ve easily stopped this by sending out codes to type in onto the website to enter and proof of verification required when purchasing the ticket https://t.co/yF0dcWOhzG
— Tyler (@Tylerrjones16) July 30, 2024
An absolute disgrace. Fans like myself who've been to multiple events this year couldn't get a sniff despite being on the site half an hour before tickets went on sale yesterday. Things need to change, this system is way past its sell by date. https://t.co/A1Rb2aENrT
— James 🏴 (@Goonerjimbo_) July 30, 2024
4 paragraphs about how bots did not buy the tickets makes me think there’s a good chance bots bought the tickets https://t.co/W408ZfEJDR
— E (@NOTBENTEKESZN) July 30, 2024
Toughest ticket to acquire on planet earth…. https://t.co/oasENdE4RI
— Guglielmo (@bzref) July 30, 2024
Tickets which were priced between £50 and £95 face value have been listed for as much as £800 on resale websites.
There will be no general sale due to the all tickets being sold through the two windows, in spite of the widespread difficulties faced by priority members.
Safe to say a lot of people have been left disappointed.
