Proposed New Ticket Rules to Ban Excessive Mark-ups
Ontario is proposing tough new rules for buying and selling tickets to give fans a fair shot at seeing their favourite music, sports or theatrical events.
The Ticket Sales Act will be introduced in the fall and, if passed, would prevent excessive markups in the resale market, provide fans with more upfront information and prevent ticket fraud, while strengthening enforcement of Ontario’s ticket laws.
Proposed changes include:
- Banning ticket bots and the sale of tickets that were purchased using bots
- Capping the resale price of tickets at 50 per cent above face value
- Requiring businesses selling tickets to disclose more information to consumers
- Establishing new enforcement measures to help make sure that ticket selling and reselling businesses are following the rules
The proposed changes follow consultations, including a survey completed by more than 34,000 people across Ontario.
Making ticket buying fairer is part of our plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts
- According to a Music Canada report, live music contributed nearly $1.2 billion to Ontario’s economy in 2013.
- In the same year, Ontario was home to over 550 live music festivals which sold almost 16 million tickets.
- Ontario surveyed more than 34,000 fans in a two-week period between February 28 and March 15, 2017, with over 16,000 responses in the first 24 hours, making it one of the most popular online surveys ever conducted by the Ontario government.
Background Information
Additional Resources
Quotes
“Tens of thousands of fans across Ontario told us they are frustrated and want to see changes. It’s not fair to fans when tickets sell out in seconds and show up on resale sites at a massive markup. That’s why we are changing the rules to make sure fans come first and to give everyone a fair shot at getting the tickets they want.”
“Buying a ticket to a memorable and significant event should not be difficult, unfair or risky — fans should be able to support their favourite team or artist without facing so many obstacles. Protecting consumers when they make important purchases is a priority for our government.”
“The mounting frustration for fans across the province culminated when regularly priced tickets to the Tragically Hip’s farewell tour were inaccessible at regular prices within minutes. After many discussions with neighbours, constituents and friends, I decided to put forward a Private Members Bill to ban ticket bots. I am thrilled our government will introduce even stronger rules that will make buying tickets fairer for people in in my hometown of Kingston, and across the province.”
“As both artists and fans of live music, we are very encouraged by the government’s new initiatives in support of ticket-buying fans. Between prices on the secondary market and ticket bots scooping up all of the available tickets, we know how frustrating trying to buy tickets can be. When we put on a live show we want our fans to have access to tickets without having to pay inflated prices or risk buying fake tickets. We are encouraged that these new initiatives will be a step in the direction of getting real fans tickets at fair prices.”
Arkells
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