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Beware Of Fake Ticket Sellers At Rodeo Houston's World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest
HOUSTON – COMING UP: Monday, Feb. 26 on KPRC at 6 a.M., Mario Diaz explains what the folks from Houston Rodeo are doing to crack down on ticket scammers. Plus, what you should know before buying tickets from someone online.
Are you ready to chow down on some Bar-B-Que?
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo 2024 World Championship Bar-B-Que contest is happening this weekend, but before you go, here are some things you must be aware of.
With more than 250 teams competing in the Rodeo Houston's World Championship Bar-B-Que Contest this year, there will be some people trying to sell fake tickets.
On Thursday, the day the BBQ Kickoff is set to begin, Harris County Precinct One Constable Alan Rosen sent a warning out to Houstonians about fake rodeo BBQ tickets selling online.
So, in case you're new in town or just not sure how things work, here are a few things to know before heading out:
Most team tents are invitation-only, but not to worry! If you can't sweet talk your way into a private tent, there are several public venues including The Garden, Rockin' Bar-B-Que Saloon and the Chuckwagon. Plus, the carnival is open for everyone, with tons of games and rides.
Cook-off hours
Thursday, Feb. 22: 5 to 11 p.M.
Friday, Feb. 23: noon to 11 p.M.
Saturday, Feb. 24: 9 a.M. To 11 p.M.
PUBLIC PARKING
HLSR Parking Lot at 610: $25
HLSR Parking Lot at Old Spanish Trail: $25
HLSR Parking Lot at Reed Road: $25
Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.
Lucky Aussies Won $63MILLION At Their Newsagency - But Now Powerball Ticket Sellers Are Closing Their Doors For A Heartbreaking Reason
The owners of a newsagency which sold a $63million lotto ticket have been forced to close the doors and sell the business because of relentless shoplifting.
Tania and Kevin Parkes who ran City News Kalgoorlie in Western Australia's Goldfields-Esperance region, east of Perth, for almost a decade shut up shop on Saturday ahead of new owners taking over in July.
Fed up of thieves stealing items from the store, the couple made the difficult decision to sell the newsagency.
Mrs Parkes told Daily Mail Australia that the level of theft in the gold mining town was too much to handle for the couple who have owned the business since 2015.
'We just couldn't work there under those conditions,' she said.
Tania Parkes (pictured left) and her husband Kevin (pictured right) have been forced to sell the City News Kalgoorlie newsagency after the proud business owners became fed up by thieves
She said her husband Kevin, who lost his leg 20 years ago and needs back surgery after a nasty fall in December 2022, was devastated over having to close the business.
'We've put off his surgery for our customers but he's got to that point where he just needs to come first now,' she said.
The newsagency made headlines in 2022 for selling the winning ticket in a $63million Powerball draw to a group of 250 locals named 'Goldfield, let's pay our mortgages'.
The couple say the store has been the victim of theft almost every day but Mrs Parkes said she'd finally had enough after an incident last month.
Mr and Mrs Parkes had decided to keep the newsagency open on January 18 despite it being a sweltering day with temperatures reaching 42C.
After the power went out the night before they were forced to use a back-up generator to power the fridge to keep drinks cold for customers.
The couple say an Indigenous woman walked into the newsagency around 8.30am, took a bottle of Coke and walked out of the store without paying for it.
Mrs Parkes politely confronted the woman and asked her to foot the bill for the item before things got heated.
The couple's (pictured) newsagency made headlines in 2022 when they sold the winning ticket to the $63million Powerball
'I've called her over and she's just turned around and gone, 'F**k you, you white c****' and walked out.'
Mrs Parkes then said the woman lunged at her with the drink can.
'She slapped me across the face with [the can] and grabbed my hair and tried to pull me to the ground.'
Mrs Parkes said the woman was holding a pair of scissors which were held up at her throat.
The woman then ran away leaving Mrs Parkes with a bloodied finger after another elderly customer helped pull the two women away from one another.
Police arrested the woman last month before she pleaded guilty to stealing, criminal damage and common assault.
However, Mrs Parkes says she was disappointed that the magistrate appeared to accept the woman's version of events after she told the court that she was going to pay for the coke but was 'chased' out of the store, perhaps because of 'prejudice'.
Mrs Parkes, who has an Aboriginal father, said she felt misrepresented by the magistrate's verdict.
The business (pictured) owned by Mr and Mrs Parkes since 2015 shut up shop on Saturday and will be handed over to new owners
'To not be able to get our experience across properly... Is such a wrong system,' she said.
She said that increased police presence in the area since the incident wasn't enough to convince her to keep the store open.
Many businesses in the area have closed down or moved elsewhere due to shoplifting.
She uploaded a heartbreaking post on the City News Kalgoorlie Facebook page on Saturday moments after she served her final customer.
'Final time as owners of City News Kalgoorlie...' Mrs Parkes said.
The couple will be moving down to Perth where their children live as Mrs Parkes cares for her husband while supporting her daughter's business.
The new owners will take over the newsagency in July.
'I'll be back for the handover and then we'll have a big final farewell to Kalgoorlie,' Mrs Parkes said.
Setting Limits On Ticket Resale Prices Would Be Music To The EarsSTAFF COMMENTARY
Last month when M&T Bank Stadium hosted the first AFC Championship Game, the Baltimore Ravens might have lost, but other records were set. It was the first conference championship game in M&T's history, and the first in Baltimore since 1971, when the Colts were the home team. It also turned out to be the most-watched AFC Championship in television history, with CBS Sports reporting more than 55 million viewers.
But here's a less thrilling record: Some of the patrons had to pay extraordinary prices to get into the stadium, reportedly ranging from $500 for the least desirable seats to something on the order of $2,200 on average. Why? Because that's what the so-called "secondary market," where individuals with tickets can resell them, could command, mostly through websites created for that express purpose.
None of that surely surprised NFL football fans nor anyone else who has tried to acquire seats for sold-out events, whether at M&T or CFG Bank Arena, where tickets for big-name acts like Stevie Nicks or Beyoncé can go for thousands of dollars over face value. Think Charm City can't attract visitors? Try telling that to starstruck concert-goers who last fall helped CFG earn a spot on Billboard's list of "Top 10 Worldwide Highest Grossing Venues."
But it's one thing for season ticket holders to resell seats when they're out of town for a Ravens or Orioles home game and quite another for individuals to scoop up as many tickets as possible and drive up prices to unaffordable levels on those secondary sites. Reasonable profit-making is fine, but gouging the public is something else altogether, and that's why we think legislation pending before the Maryland General Assembly — to, among other things, cap resell ticket prices — deserves some serious consideration, particularly as Baltimore continues to prosper as a regional entertainment site.
The measure, Senate Bill 539 and House Bill 701, would continue to allow a resale market, of course. But it would also set up some basic consumer protections, requiring sellers to fully disclose what they paid and where the seat is located, and to limit resale prices, generally, to no more than its original price plus whatever fees and taxes the buyer spent — along with whatever a secondary market site charges for its involvement. It also specifically bans "speculative" transactions, where a middleman essentially resells tickets before they are even acquired. Those who violate these restrictions could face fines as high as $25,000 for repeat violations.
Such an approach has already drawn critics in the legislature. There are inevitably some savvy season ticketholders who have discovered that if they resell especially popular games, for example, they can profit enough to pay for a large chunk of their overall costs. The concern here is not to interfere with reasonable commerce; if seller and buyer alike are left satisfied with the transaction, it's unlikely to provoke any enforcement action by the Maryland Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division, anyway. Instead, it's meant to prevent gouging that may not only sully the reputation of the website involved but of the team, concert act, venue and Baltimore generally. In this, lawmakers will need to strike a balance. But it's clearly not happening now, at least not with reports of scalping so prevalent it crashes some of those websites.
Can we at least agree that transparency should be mandated? If consumers are willing to pay through the nose to see a big name, perhaps they are getting what they deserve. But even the wealthiest and most free-spending should know what kind of markup they're paying.
Baltimore Sun editorial writers offer opinions and analysis on news and issues relevant to readers. They operate separately from the newsroom.
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