In a statement sent to Lusa, BOL highlighted the importance of carrying out this action using technology developed by the Portuguese ticketing platform itself, and of invalidating the tickets before the start of the show and entry into the venue—in this case, the Algarve Stadium, where Kanye West performed before an audience of 34,000, according to the concert promoters.

Through this operation, BOL managed to “identify and invalidate 933 tickets for the Kanye West concert following speculative resale transactions,” the company noted, emphasising that the total value of these tickets was estimated at between €250,000 and €350,000.

BOL indicated that it monitored platforms such as Viagogo, StubHub, TicketSwap, OLX, and Facebook, detecting instances where prices reached nearly double their original value.

The initiative aimed to “combat speculative resale practices and protect consumers from artificially inflated prices, while simultaneously strengthening promoter control over ticket circulation.”

The tool made it possible to “individually identify the tickets after the speculative resale transaction had taken place and invalidate them before the event occurred,” the company noted, stressing that this “capacity to intervene before the event [...] sets the operation apart.”

Although it had previously been used “with an essentially deterrent purpose,” the Kanye West concert marked the first time it was deployed on a “large scale with the effective capacity to intervene regarding tickets subject to speculative resale,” she added.

“Being able to identify and invalidate 933 tickets for a single event demonstrates that the technology can give promoters a level of control over the ticket lifecycle that was previously very difficult to achieve. Above all, it shows that this capability can be replicated and taken to other markets,” said Sara Gonçalves, BOL’s Director of Operations, as quoted in the same statement.

For BOL, the operation’s results “validate” this technology and demonstrate its “potential to address a problem that cuts across the ticketing sector”—affecting concerts, festivals, cultural shows, sporting events, and other high-demand occasions.

“This is not a solution created for just one concert. It is proprietary technology, developed in Portugal, that we can continue to refine, scale, and apply to other events and markets,” Sara Gonçalves argued.