UK live events are back in force. Premier League fixtures, arena tours, West End runs, County cricket, festival season, and the ICC events circuit are all trading at or above pre-COVID volume. The way tickets and access are delivered, though, has changed less than the way people want to consume them. Most events still send an email attachment or a PDF and hope the customer finds it on the day, but many won’t! Causing huge delays in logistical processes as well as detrimental effects on customer experience.
That’s exactly where mobile wallet ticketing is starting to matter.
Where wallet passes fit in events
For UK event operators: sports clubs, venues, promoters, theatres, and conference organisers wallet passes do three related jobs.
Event tickets: A pass representing a specific event concert, match, show, session with the date, venue, seat, and scannable barcode.
Season passes and memberships. A pass representing ongoing access season ticket, gallery membership, gym-and-events bundle that persists across many events across a year.
Access control and hospitality. A pass carrying VIP, backstage, or hospitality-suite access, with unique QR codes tied to specific zones.
Most brands issue several pass types side by side.
Why wallet ticketing beats email tickets
An email ticket sits in an inbox. It’s an attachment or a link the customer has to find on the day of the event, often on a phone with poor signal outside a venue.
A wallet pass sits on the lock screen. It surfaces automatically as the event approaches. It doesn’t need the customer to remember which email thread it lives in.
The mechanics of an Apple Wallet event pass:
Time-based surfacing. The pass appears on the lock screen close to the event start time.
Location-based surfacing. The pass surfaces when the customer arrives at the venue.
Live updates. Time changes, gate reallocations, seat upgrades push to the pass automatically.
Fast entry. Staff scan the phone at the gate. No paper, no email search.
Google Wallet does the same on Android. A UK event operator should issue for both.
Live updates and post-event engagement
The under-used part of wallet ticketing is what happens after the event, not before it.
A wallet event ticket doesn’t have to disappear when the customer walks out of the venue. It can convert into a follow-up pass: a discount code for the merch store, a link to the next event, or a loyalty pass tying that customer to future visits.
For UK venues and promoters, this is where the retention story lives:
Pre-event: timing reminders, upgrade offers, food and drink pre-orders
On-arrival: wayfinding, gate direction, hospitality check-in
In-event: merch offers, hospitality upgrades
Post-event: thank-you pass, next-event invitation, loyalty conversion
A wallet pass is a persistent channel. The relationship with the customer doesn’t have to end when the event does.
Where UK event operators are applying this
Sports. Season ticket holders receive a persistent wallet membership pass for the whole season, with individual match tickets appearing as separate passes on match day. Melbourne Storm issued 30,000+ passes on exactly this model.
Music venues and festivals. Ticket passes with venue map links, set times, and merch offers. Post-festival, the pass converts into a channel for next-year priority access.
Theatre and arts. Individual show tickets, season memberships (National Theatre, RSC), and donor-tier passes with benefits year-round.
Conferences. Attendee passes carrying session schedules, room numbers, and networking data. Post-conference, the pass converts into a follow-up channel.
Cinemas and multi-venue operators. Loyalty tier passes tied to visits across multiple sites, with time-bound digital coupons layered on top.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. A wallet season pass is a persistent membership object on the customer’s phone, valid across every home game. Individual match tickets can be issued as separate passes and expire after each game. Litecard integrates with common UK ticketing platforms including Archtics, and passes update automatically for time changes, seat changes, or gate reallocations.
Increasingly, yes. Festival passes carry the multi-day access barcode, venue map links, set times, and post-event follow-up flows. The pass surfaces on the customer’s lock screen when they arrive at the site, and can push notifications with set updates and merch offers during the event.
Each pass carries a unique QR or barcode tied to a specific access zone or ticket type. Staff scan the phone at the gate the same way they’d scan a printed ticket. Passes can be revoked in real time if there’s a fraud or resale concern.
