Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.
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Garth Brooks tickets are sold out for his first five weekend shows, and Wynn Las Vegas is doing everything it can to make sure fans don’t get their hands on unauthorized tickets.
With some tickets on sale for more than $1,000 over their face value on several ticket broker Web sites, Wynn has come up with its own approach for dealing with would-be scalpers.
The resort said in a statement that its legal counsel is sending a message to suspected scalpers and unauthorized dealers: “It has come to our attention that you are representing yourself as a licensed ticket broker for the purpose of reselling tickets for the Garth Brooks concerts at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. Please be advised that you have not been authorized as a licensed ticket broker by Wynn Las Vegas, and you are not authorized to resell any Garth Brooks tickets for his concerts at our venue.”
Tickets, which Wynn is selling at $143 apiece (a $125 base price, plus a $5 service charge and $13 in taxes), are being resold for as much as $7,500 for five tickets on sites like eBay, where nearly 100 results can be found for Brooks tickets. Other prices include $1,218 on Vivid Seats, $1,455 on Online Seats and $1,600 on Ticket Liquidator.
Wynn also added to its ticket disclosure that management reserves the right to cancel and refund the face value of any ticket.
When the sale date was announced, Wynn’s original ticket disclosure indicated ticket holders must enter the concert with their entire party and the person who purchased the tickets must provide valid photo identification.
But Sun readers who purchased tickets also said they were contacted by a Wynn representative and told to provide the name of each individual ticket holder -- otherwise their entire ticket order would be canceled and refunded. Visitors to Wynn’s Facebook page wrote about the same procedure.
A spokesperson for Wynn wouldn’t confirm the practice on Monday.
Tickets for Brooks' first five weekend shows at Wynn sold out just hours after they went on sale at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Wynn Las Vegas said tickets were gone by 1 p.m. Saturday and the resort’s Web site and phones were inundated. During the course of the day, Wynn Las Vegas’ box office Web site received more than 5.4 million page views, a Wynn spokesperson said.
The resort took more that 140,000 calls for tickets and had up to 40,000 people waiting for tickets in the online queue.
Brooks will begin his first performances Dec. 11 at the Encore Theater. Confirmed dates include Dec. 11-13, Jan. 1-3 and 22-24, Feb. 12-14 and 26-28.
Wynn has said the resort will be announcing additional shows soon.
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