Royal fans slam Ticketmaster for a confusing ballot system that has left them without tickets to King Charles III's coronation concert

• After criticism for its handling of Taylor Swift and Drake's tours, Ticketmaster is under fire again.
• Fans were told they had won tickets for King Charles' coronation concert in the final ballot.
• But they went quickly on a "first-come first-served basis" amid confusing instructions.

Ticketmaster has come under scrutiny after people hoping to attend King Charles III's coronation concert were left ticketless due to confusing instructions, CNN first reported.

Some fans were told that they had won tickets for the landmark concert on May 7 – headlined by Katy Perry and Lionel Richie – but then discovered there were none left.

Screenshots of Ticketmaster emails shared on Twitter say: "you have been successful in the ballot" but the tickets were also being offered on a "first-come first-served basis."

There was more uncertainty because the email said fans had until midday Thursday to claim the tickets, but they all went within minutes. "If you do not claim your tickets by this date, then they will be reallocated," it added. 

This was the third and final ballot for a total of 10,000 concert tickets. It was made up of those tickets left unclaimed from the previous two ballots, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Insider.

A February press release for the concert from the Royal Household said that tickets would be allocated based on the geographical spread of the UK population and not on a first-come first-served basis.

The Ticketmaster spokesperson said that Tuesday's tickets were "released on a first-come, first-served basis to those who had previously applied to the ballot (and were unsuccessful). These inevitably went very quickly."

In the first two ballots, tickets were "guaranteed" so long as they were claimed within three weeks, the spokesperson said. 

—Matthew Knight (@matthew_knight) April 25, 2023

—Laura Wood (@mrslaurawood) April 25, 2023

Those who missed out on the tickets described Ticketmaster's process as "incredibly misleading" and "a total shambles" on Twitter.

Ticketmaster previously faced criticism over its handling of Taylor Swift and Drake's tours. Fans of the Canadian rapper filed a class-action lawsuit, alleging that one customer bought $790 tickets before a second show was added the following day with the same seats that cost nearly $400 less.  

High demand during the presale of tickets to Taylor Swift's concert caused the site to crash – Ticketmaster said "millions" had signed up but it also suffered from "bot attacks." The general sale two days later was then canceled, citing "insufficient ticket inventory."

Lina Khan, who chairs the Federal Trade Commission, said in February that Ticketmaster's role in Swift's tour "ended up converting more Gen Zers into anti-monopolists overnight than anything I could have done." 

The BBC, which is organizing the Coronation concert, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.