How is the scalping business going?

K.G., ATLANTA
Worse than it’s ever been. The cops are really tough. They’re even tough on me and I have a license to sell tickets. They don’t respect the license. I pay my business taxes. I paid a thousand dollars this year, a thousand dollars last year, but I get no support out here. The police get hard on me. The young boys with no licenses have made it so bad by robbing and harassing people that the police are hard on people who are doing legit business like myself who have to suffer, like I’m doing what the young boys are doing.

ROGER, ATLANTA
I wouldn’t use the word scalping. I’m selling my tickets below face value. Cops won’t hassle you as long as you’re not close to the venue. I’ve actually sold to uniformed police officers before. Brokers intentionally get too many tickets because they have to fill the orders of their regular customers and so they come out here and dump them on the street. Those tickets are usually better than what you can get through Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is a monopoly. I wish the government would break them up.

PEAZO, ATLANTA
Real slow. They’re making a big deal of the new scalping laws. I was arrested at the Washington Wizards game. I had a “I need tickets” sign and the police pulled up, got out of the car and arrested me for the sign. They threw it out in court. They get you off the street to waste some time to keep you from being at the event. They arrest people for any little thing. They target [popular] games like that. They know there’s going to be a crowd of scalpers out here trying to make some money. They don’t want you to make any money. u??