Photo Credit: Yalın Kaya
The Ontario government plans to ban reselling live event tickets for more than their original price, after promising to revisit the matter in October.
Onario Premier Doug Ford plans to ban the resale of live event tickets above their face value, including fees, service charges, and taxes. The government’s proposal would apply to concerts, sports, cultural events, and other live ticketing events in the province.
“We’re putting ticket scalpers on notice: Your days of ripping people off are done,” Ford wrote in a social media post on Friday.
According to the Ontario government, the legislation would also strengthen ticket validity guarantee requirements to protect buyers from fake or speculative tickets. It also aims to create new protections to address unfair service charges and fees during the checkout process. Sources close to the discussions indicate that Ontario is considering penalties of up to $10,000 for ticketing businesses that violate the new rules.
The move comes after Ford vowed to revisit the issue of scalping back in October, particularly after public criticism of the ticketing market during the Toronto Blue Jays World Series games. At the time, Ford publicly criticized the “monopolized” ticket market, spearheaded by Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
“My personal opinion, they’re gouging people,” Ford said last year. “When you have one player in the market that controls the tickets, that’s not right for the people, so we are actually reviewing that right now.”
It also follows the same government scrapping part of an anti-scalping law in 2019 that would have capped ticket resale prices at 50% above the original face value. The Ford government saw backlash from the industry for doing away with that proposed legislation at the time.
The timing coincides with the recent announcement that an agreement had been reached between Consumer Protection B.C. and StubHub Canada over the company’s lack of transparency in seats with obscured viewing during the Vancouver dates on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in 2024. Attendees who bought tickets to those shows through StubHub may be eligible for a refund if the tickets corresponded to certain seats with obstructed or limited viewing which did not disclose that information at the time of purchase.
StubHub will contact those eligible for a refund, but those who are eligible and do not hear from the company are encouraged to contact StubHub’s customer support directly.
