The D.C. Council on Oct. 22 will hold a hearing on the Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Amendment Act, a consumer-protection effort intended to curb ticket scalping and increase transparency for ticket purchasers in the District.
Bill 26-0224 would make it illegal to resell a ticket for more than 10 percent above face value and require ticket sellers to make an effort to block scalpers and corporate brokers from using automated computer programs to bulk-buy tickets online. Those programs are designed to scoop up vast sums of ticket sellers’ inventory the second shows go on sale, making it difficult for fans to purchase tickets at face value.
The legislation would also ban “speculative” listings—ads for tickets that sellers don’t actually own yet—that lawmakers say would cut down on scams and fake tickets. It would also establish “all-in” pricing so buyers can see the total cost—including taxes and fees—before checkout, and require high-volume sellers, defined as anyone selling more than 50 tickets per year, to register and pay a $10,000 bond as a safeguard in case they break the rules.
The D.C. attorney general would also be able to fine violators up to $10,000 per ticket.
The bill, introduced with great fanfare last year by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, has received support from more than 30 local venues and consumer groups, including Allyson Jaffee, owner of DC Improv Comedy Club, and Donald Cohen, executive director of the Fan Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating on behalf of music fans.
“The Resale Act goes a long way to solving the problems that impact fans,” Cohen says in his written testimony.
But one provision, the 10 percent cap on resale tickets, could end up hurting consumers and boosting Live Nation’s bottom line.
The Bots Crackdown
The legislation’s supporters and critics alike generally agree that one of the bill’s central provisions—targeting the automated bots that scalpers use to buy tickets in bulk—is sound policy.
“These bots buy up thousands of tickets within seconds of going on sale, leaving consumers to pay inflated resale prices or miss out entirely,” says Chris Gowen, an adjunct professor of law at American University, in written testimony.
In a September 2025 federal lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission accused Live Nation (the parent company of Ticketmaster), which controls roughly 80 percent of the primary ticketing market, of allowing such bots to purchase thousands of tickets to major concerts. Gowen argues this practice lets Live Nation profit twice: from the initial sale and again from resales on its own platform.
Although federal law already bans this conduct under the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOLTS) Act of 2016, enforcement has been sparse.
“Despite the BOTS Act being enacted in December 2016, the FTC has taken action only once,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, wrote in a 2024 letter to the FTC criticizing lax oversight.
The federal government has limited resources for enforcement. That’s why states and districts frequently support consumer protection by giving their attorney general enforcement power.
The RESALE Act would allow the Office of the D.C. Attorney General—already part of a multistate antitrust suit against Live Nation—to directly enforce anti-bot rules locally.
Concerns About Fraud
The bill’s critics generally support tougher action on bots and added accountability measures on ticket sellers. But some warn that the legislation’s cap on the cost of resale tickets at no more than 10 percent of face value could backfire.
Some economists have suggested that similar caps abroad have pushed sales to unregulated websites and fueled fraud.
“That’s exactly what happened in Ireland after its 2021 Sale of Tickets Act,” Danielle Zanzalari, an economics professor at Seton Hall University, wrote in an op-ed earlier this year. “Fraud complaints skyrocketed as criminal networks stepped in to supply tickets legitimate platforms could no longer provide.”
A poll (which was funded by StubHub) determined that fraud rates were nearly four times higher in jurisdictions with resale limits, such as Victoria, Australia, and Ireland, than in the U.K., which has no price cap.
But there are much stronger consumer protections in the U.S. than in these regions, so if the policy does increase fraud, it likely would not reach nearly the same extent.
Concerns About Entrenching Ticketmaster’s Monopoly
Other analysts point to Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s public support for a resale price cap as evidence that the near monopoly could bankrupt ticket resellers such as SeatGeek, StubHub, and Vivid Seats, entrenching Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s market dominance at consumers’ expense.
“Although Ticketmaster, with its vertical integration across venue ownership, artist management, and primary ticketing, could absorb any loss, most other ticket platforms couldn’t survive under a government-imposed resale price-control regime,” Michael Busler, a professor of finance at Stockton University, writes in an op-ed. “Once they are gone, Ticketmaster would conveniently find itself with all the business its competitors lost, and fans would be left stuck paying whatever fees the Ticketmaster monopoly decides.”
Zanzalari agrees, arguing that “what looks like a safeguard is really an attempt to secure Live Nation’s monopoly power.”
Indeed, Live Nation is backing the price-cap proposal and has asked the Trump administration to push for a 20 percent cap.
What’s Next
At the Oct. 22 hearing, councilmembers are expected to hear from more than 50 District residents, consumer advocates, economists, and advocacy organizations before deciding whether to advance the measure.
If passed, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration would draft regulations defining “face value” and outlining how violations are tracked.
With dozens of witnesses slated to testify, the Council faces a delicate task: curbing scalping and deceptive practices without strengthening the very monopoly it aims to restrain.
David Balto is a D.C.-based consumer advocate and the former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission. He has testified before Congress on ticketing competition-related issues, including in opposition to the 2009 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
This article has been updated.
