“We’re using that same approach with more tours, including the John Mayer tour,” said Ticketmaster chief technology officer Brian Pike. The venues “want to go after the most sought-after seats to protect them and make sure they into go the hands of the fans.”

The trouble for Wynn is that the antiscalping plans are also alienating legitimate buyers. Many are baffled by the notion that they ought to know who they planned to bring to a show that might be months off and are angered that they can’t make changes closer to the date.

“I think they’re really going a little far,” said David Shulman of Fort Lauderdale, who has seats to tonight’s show and is taking two friends. “It seems a little weird that I can’t sell them at face value if I want to or that I can’t even give them away.”

Yet it does appear Wynn may have put a real damper on scalping this go-round. No seats were being sold on eBay on Thursday and Craigslist was littered with pleas from people hoping to buy but precious few sellers. Licensed ticket brokers in Las Vegas, for the most part, sat this one out, Solky said.

Solky doubted that such efforts could run his compatriots out of business because ticket brokers provide a valuable service and regularly do business with the concierges at Vegas resorts seeking tickets for their favored guests. Plus, the Brooks’ shows are a special case because they’re rare, the venue is small and the price is fixed below what the market will bear.

“The fact is, if every venue decided to make it this difficult to attend, there would just be less people attending,” Solky said. “They don’t want that, either.”

Dunne conceded that their easing up of the rules could provide new opportunities for scalpers, “which is why this is an ongoing process. We’re going to be monitoring what’s going on in the scalper world so we can counter it.”