President Obama Signs Anti-Scalping Legislation Banning Ticket Bots
After clearing Congressional hurdles, President Obama signed the Better Online Ticket Sales Act—or the BOTS Act for short—into law, Billboard reports. The new legislation was created to allow fans a greater opportunity to purchase tickets at face value when they first go online. According to a statement from the White House Press Secretary, the act “prohibits the circumvention of control measures used by Internet ticket sellers to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets for certain events.” Ticket bot software allows scalpers to buy up large quantities of event tickets quickly before average consumers can purchase them. Scalpers can then jack up the prices as resellers in secondary markets like StubHub.
Online ticket retailer Ticketmaster was among the first to celebrate the law’s passage as a victory for the ticket marketplace. “On behalf of artists, venues, teams, and especially fans, Ticketmaster is pleased that the BOTS Act is now a federal law,” the company said in a statement. “Ticketmaster worked closely with legislators to develop the BOTS Act and we believe its passage is a critical step in raising awareness and regulating the unauthorized use of Bots.”
In November, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill into law criminalizing the use of ticket bots in the city, making it a class A misdemeanor that could result in a hefty fine or even prison time. The fight for a nationwide law intensified earlier this month when both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed the BOTs Act, sending the bill through to President Obama.
Read Pitchfork’s feature, “The Presidential Suite: A Look Back at Obama’s Musical Milestones.”
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