Vic makes ticket scalping rip offs harder

Ticket scalpers will find it harder to rip off punters who want to go to big Victorian events thanks to new laws.

Legislation will be introduced into parliament on Thursday making it illegal to sell or advertise for resale tickets to any declared event for more than 10 per cent above face value.

"We need to put a stop to these unscrupulous people out there that want to rip Victorians off and for far too long now they've had their way," Major Events Minister John Eren told reporters.

The new laws will also expand the meaning of a declared event from sporting events to include cultural and theatre productions, such as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which will open in Melbourne in 2019.

"One of the requests from that production company was that we have a look at a method of preventing scalping from happening because they had some instances happen at the West End when they had their show there," Mr Eren said.

Not all big events will be declared, but previously only the AFL grand final has been on the list.

People caught flouting the laws will faces fines ranging from $475 to $475,000.

New authorised ticketing officers and Victoria Police officers will be able to fine scalpers who target popular events.