Search for Tickets
Nearby Concerts
Nearby Sports
Nearby Theatre
Ticket Summit will be back in 2021, returning to Las Vegas for an August show at the Aria Resort & Casino, organizers announced Thursday morning. The annual trade show, which brings together leaders and businesses operating in ticketing and live entertainment, will run from August 15-17 at the hotel located on the Las Vegas strip. As was the case with so many events in the past year, Ticket Summit saw its 2020 event called off due to the COVID-19 outbreak. But organizers are confident that the event, which they envision as a key gathering point for businesses poised to rebound from an enormously challenging year in ticketing, will be back and bigger than ever. “We’re very excited to announce this year’s show, which comes at such a key point for so many businesses in ticketing as pandemic-related limits on crowds and events begin to lift,” says Don Vaccaro, CEO of TicketNetwork, longtime co-producer of Ticket Summit. “Live events are coming back in a big way, and there’s never been a greater opportunity for professionals to learn and grow for the future than we’ll see this summer.” The slate of keynote speakers and panelists has not yet been announced for Ticket Summit, with details set to be released in the coming weeks. Vaccaro believed that the event will be by far the best attended in Ticket Summit’s history, which has seen more than 1,000 attendees at its peak in 2019, a figure which he believes could double in August. In a new wrinkle for 2021, Ticket Summit will be running concurrently with the Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) Conference and Trade Show, which also takes place over the same three day stretch at Aria. That event, which draws executives from professional sports teams and vendors across the spectrum of live events, expands the networking potential for Ticket Summit and ALSD attendees alike – though it should be noted that separate registration is necessary for each event to participate in specific event functions. “I think this is an exciting development in the sports business evolution,” says Bill Dorsey, chairman and founder of the ALSD, now in its 31st year. “We look forward to working with Ticket Summit and several other groups that are collaborating for our Las Vegas show this year.” “The digital age is upon us and it has been speeded up several years because of the Pandemic. The ALSD, which covers premium tickets for primary tickets audiences this year has decided to partner with Ticket Summit, that covers secondary marketing ticketing. These two groups, primary and secondary, are increasingly merging due to digital advances in ticketing. Early bird pricing for Ticket Summit has been announced, with a $399 price tag for the first wave of ticket sales . Those prices will only rise as the event draws closer, and keynote and networking events are finalized. Information about passes and hotel deals will be posted at TicketSummit.com. Vendor space in the exhibit hall is also currently available, though organizers anticipate that will go quickly. The post Ticket Summit 2021 Headed to Aria Las Vegas August 15-17 appeared first on TicketNews .
Lawmakers in Maryland are considering a pair of bills that would grant consumers in the state stronger rights over tickets they purchase to events, as well as increased protection against the sharing of their personal information with partners of ticketing vendors, venues, teams and promoters. The two bills, House Bill 747, and House Bill 1235, will see debate this week in Annapolis. Consumer advocates and resale marketplaces stand in support of the bills, while venues, promoters and the related industry lobbying system stands opposed, hoping to continue its data harvesting and transfer restriction practices unabated by new consumer protection measures. HB 747 relates specifically to restrictions related to the sharing of consumer personal information in online ticket sales. It prohibits the placement of consumer information on a ticket itself (including the consumer name) unless the consumer can remove the information without invalidating the ticket. It also puts restrictions on disclosing personal information to any third party except under certain circumstances. HB 1235 is more comprehensive, putting in place restrictions on paperless ticketing systems, transferrability limits, and makes it illegal for venues to deny entry to consumers who have valid tickets to events strictly on the basis of their ticket having been resold. Both bills were introduced by Delegate Benjamin Brooks, a democrat representing the states 10th district, which covers parts of Baltimore County in the north-central portion of the state. If passed, these bills would collectively bring Maryland to the forefront of consumer ticket rights protections, joining states including New York, Connecticut, Colorado, Virginia, and Illinois in protecting consumer rights against encroachments spurred by technological advances developed and in development by primary ticketing companies. The need for consumer protection of ticket rights has become an increasing focus of state legislatures in recent sessions, as efforts to create mobile-locked ticketing systems have gathered steam among primary ticketing vendors with exclusive ticketing contracts at the majority of venues in the United States. Fans have already seen lockouts for high profile events when legally resold tickets were invalidated by venues such as the infamous Black Keys debacle in 2019 that saw hundreds stranded outside a show in Los Angeles despite their tickets being valid for every other reason besides having been sold more than once. Ticketmaster’s “SafeTix” system of rotating barcodes locked to a users cell phone was used in that instance, and will likely be deployed even more aggressively in a post-COVID ticketing landscape, given the company’s hopes to rebrand the anti-resale product as a way to adhere to safety guidelines. Even before the Safetix scandal, consumer advocates have cautioned against the continued allowance of such walled garden technology. “The increasing use of so-called ‘non-transferrable’ tickets as a way to control ticket scalping is a cure worse than the disease,” National Consumers League Vice President John Breyault told Virginia legislators in 2017 prior to that states passage of protections similar to what their northern neighbor is now considering. “Because events with non-transferrable tickets require attendees to show an I.D. and the credit or debit card used for purchase in order to enter the venue, these events may not be accessible for the 24.3 percent of Virginians who are unbanked or underbanked.” In his Virginia testimony, Breyault also pointed out the anti-competitive core impact of “restricted-transfer” tickets such as those using the Safetix and other similar systems. “Make no mistake, primary ticketers like Ticketmaster do not want to prevent ticket resale; they want to control and profit from it,” said Breyault. “Through the use of restricted transfer tickets, companies like Ticketmaster seek to limit resale to ticket markets they control and where they, not competition, set the prices consumers must pay.” According to data found in a 2017 national survey conducted by the FDIC , those numbers of unbanked or underbanked consumers are likely even higher in Maryland, which stood at the top of the scale used for consumers who were underbanked, with at least 21.4 percent of consumers meeting their standard. Communities with predominant populations of color such as Baltimore – the largest city in the state of Maryland – are the main drivers of these statistics. It is for reasons such as this that the United States Minority Ticketing Group has long lobbied for legislation like HB 1235 and HB 747. Eliminating restrictive ticketing systems is one of the key priorities of the organization, which defines dynamic barcodes and other paperless tickets as one of 11 of what it calls “discriminatory practices” that prevent the existence of an “equal entertainment industry for minorities” according to USMTG.org. “Exclusively offering mobile, non-transferable tickets is another way of blocking people out with less resources. There’s a long history of individuals in power defining which consumers are valuable in the marketplace,” says Scot Esdaile, Executive Director of the United States Minority Ticketing Group (USMTG) and national board member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). “This fight between the haves and the have-not’s has been a battle since the beginning of time, but USMTG will continue to fight for the disenfranchised, and against monopolies in the ticket industry.” The hearings for the bills are scheduled to take place on Wednesday afternoon, where pro-industry lobbiests will likely push hard against the continued progress of the bills, while consumer advocates provide testimony in favor. We will update this ongoing story as more details are available. The post Maryland Lawmakers Considering Bills Bolstering Consumer Ticket Rights, Privacy appeared first on TicketNews .
Festicket’s Event Genius is expanding its presence in the Australian festival marketplace with primary ticketing deals with several music festivals, the company announced this week. The system, promoted as an “end-to-end ticketing, cashless, and event management platform” has inked deals with Lost Paradise, Wildlands, and For The Love for the 2021 festival season down under, which is one of the few locations worldwide which will see minimal COVID-related restrictions for the immediate future. “It’s always exciting to move into new territories and we can’t wait to build our team in Australia to help deliver a string of great events in 2021 and beyond,” says Sam Owens, Head of APAC at Festicket and Event Genius. “It’s been well documented how tough 2020 has been for the festival industry so when promoters of this stature entrust us with helping them get back to running the events their fans love so much it makes it all the sweeter.” Festicket is based in the United Kingdom and has grown in recent years as a brand focused on bringing festival fans from around the globe together. It acquired Event Genius in 2019 , along with the Ticket Arena brand. “We’ve worked with worked with Festicket as an allocation ticketing partner in the past and have always been impressed with their ability to help us reach new fans,” says Christian Serrao of United Group. “As soon as they partnered with Event Genius to offer an all-round primary ticketing solution complete with payment plans, Pay With Friends, travel, access control and other onsite event delivery tech, we knew we wanted to join.” The full press release announcing the deals is included below: Photo courtesy of Festicket – by @mitchlowephoto The festival deals represent the end-to-end ticketing and event management platform’s first primary ticketing contracts in Australia following Festicket’s acquisition of Event Genius in August 2019 Festicket has begun to make inroads into the Australian festival market with some of the country’s most revered and established music festivals putting pen to paper making Event Genius, the Festicket owned end-to-end ticketing, cashless and event management platform, their primary ticketing partner. Combining social responsibility, sustainability and wellness with a broad and unique lineup of electronic music, Lost Paradise (Glenworth Valley, Sydney) has found itself at the forefront of the Australian festival scene for the past six years and 2021 will see the event kick start a multi-year deal with Event Genius. Two more of Australia’s most loved music festival brands, Wildlands (Brisbane) and For The Love (Melbourne, Perth and the Gold Coast) complete the string of events that join the Event Genius roster for 2021. The festival deals see the UK outfit partnering with some of the county’s most respected promoters and event organisers including Untitled Group and will see Event Genius technology make the trip down under for the first time to deliver events all across the country including in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. All three festivals will benefit from an end-to-end service encompassing the platform’s egTicketing, egMarketing and egAccess products; selling tickets via the Festicket, Ticket Arena and official event websites, connecting event brands with new audiences through bespoke marketing campaigns and delivering a COVID-secure onsite access control experience. Sam Owens, Head of APAC, Festicket and Event Genius: “It’s always exciting to move into new territories and we can’t wait to build our team in Australia to help deliver a string of great events in 2021 and beyond. It’s been well documented how tough 2020 has been for the festival industry so when promoters of this stature entrust us with helping them get back to running the events their fans love so much it makes it all the sweeter.” Christian Serrao, Director, Untitled Group: “We’ve worked with Festicket as an allocation ticketing partner in the past and have always been impressed with their ability to help us reach new fans so as soon as they partnered with Event Genius to offer an all-round primary ticketing solution complete with payment plans, Pay With Friends, travel, access control and other onsite event delivery tech, we knew we wanted to join.” The post Festicket’s Event Genius Platform Expands With Australia Festival Deals appeared first on TicketNews .
The Competition and Markets Authority announced Tuesday that Viagogo must spin off some StubHub operations to address competition concerns it had with the merger, which has been held up by the UK regulator since early 2020. Viagogo, which paid an estimated $4 billion to purchase the ticket resale marketplace from eBay last year, must sell the non-North American operations of the company in order for the merger to go through, with conditions in place for the sale set by the regulator. “The CMA has focused on ensuring competition in this sector works best for UK consumers,” says Stuart McIntosh, Chair of the CMA inquiry group. “After examining all the options, including unwinding the merger in full, the evidence shows that Viagogo selling StubHub’s international business will resolve our competition concerns, effectively and proportionately.” Viagogo, owned by StubHub co-founder Eric Baker, emerged as the surprise winner in the StubHub sale process a year ago, after eBay was pressured by activist investors to spin off its ticket resale subsidiary and market leader. But the CMA quickly challenged the merger , finding that it would “lead to a substantial reduction in competition in the secondary ticketing market in the UK.” Much of the last year has been spent with StubHub stuck in limbo, maintaining independent operations from its new parent company as the pandemic halted nearly all business. Interestingly, the solution proposed by the CMA is one that Viagogo itself had suggested earlier in the process, only to see the regulator reject that remedy as insufficient . In the ensuing months, foes of Viagogo have piled on, suggesting that the merger be unwound entirely. In one notable instance, Baker’s StubHub co-founder Jeff Fluhr suggested that the regulator force a sale to him (and associates). Viagogo’s options in the sale of StubHub’s international businesses will be determined in partnership with the CMA, including who is eligible for the process, and what the terms of such a sale might be. “Creating a fully independent StubHub international business will maintain competition in the UK and help ensure that the users of these ticketing platforms don’t face higher prices or poorer quality of service,” McIntosh says.” The full release a nnouncing the CMA decision is available here . Additional information is available at the regulator’s inquiry case page here . The post UK Regulator Rules Viagogo Must Sell International StubHub Operations appeared first on TicketNews .
SeatGeek is coming to Broadway. The ticketing provider, based in New York, was announced as the new ticketing partner for the Jujamcyn Theaters chain in a multi-year deal covering five theaters. It is SeatGeek’s first partnership on the Great White Way, and replaces Jujamcyn’s current ticketing vendor, Ticketmaster. “As our industry looks to emerge from this period of prolonged darkness, we are all deeply focused on safely bringing our community back to work and our audiences back to the particular kind of joy that only the live theater can deliver,” Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth says. “For us, this means leaving no tool unused and no innovation untested in our never-ending mission to enrich the theatergoing experience from start to finish.” Through SeatGeek’s platform, Broadway patrons will be able to access information about their show, purchase concessions, and access upgraded experiences offered through the application, according to a press release announcing the partnership . Current shows staged at Jujamcyn houses include The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical. The chain operates five iconic theaters: St. James Theatre, the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, the August Wilson Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and the Walter Kerr Theatre. Broadway has been paused since March of 2020 due to the coronavirus, but hopes are for a return in 2021 as vaccination efforts continue and government restrictions on in-person attendance are reduced. When that is an option, SeatGeek’s Adapt suite of tools, which allows for social distancing and access control tools to be implemented as part of the ticketing and fan access program. Adapt has already played a significant role in the return of fans to home games of the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Cavaliers. While Jujamcyn is the first Broadway client for SeatGeek, the company has already established itself with London’s West End theatrical community as the ticketing platform partner of LW Theaters. Other high profile clients on the primary side include numerous English Premier League and Major League Soccer franchises, the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Cavaliers, New Orleans Saints, and New Orleans Hornets, as well as other venue clients. With this partnership, however, the ticketing company breaks new ground on its own home city with its first New York client. “While most of SeatGeek’s current US based clients are in the sports space, we’ve long been a leading ticketer in London’s West End. We’re excited to bring SeatGeek’s patron-first ticketing to attendees as Broadway reopens,” said SeatGeek Co-Founder Russ D’Souza. “I can’t wait to hop on the subway and head a few stops uptown to take in a show alongside our new partners.” The post Broadway’s Jujamcyn Theaters Drop Ticketmaster for SeatGeek appeared first on TicketNews .
For the second straight year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach Festival have been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Public health officials announced the postponement on Friday, issuing an order barring the events from taking place in April as planned due to the ongoing spike in cases that has roiled California since fall. “Due to the pandemic, Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser today (Jan. 29) signed a public health order cancelling Coachella Valley Music and Arts, Stagecoach Country Music festivals planned for April 2021,” a tweet from Dr. Kaiser reads . “We look forward to when the events may return.” Last year’s festivals were among the first to be impacted by the coronavirus, p ostponing from their normal April dates to October 2020 as the initial wave hit in February and early March. They were later cancelled outright, with a planned return for 2021. But plans for the festivals – Coachella was to take place April 9-18 with Stagecoach following from April 23-25 – were derailed by Dr. Kaiser’s order. In the order , public health officials outlined that it was the scope and scale of the festivals that ultimately necessitated their cancellation. “”Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival are music concerts and gatherings of an international scope, attracting hundreds of thousands of attendees from many countries, including several disproportionately afflicted by the worldwide COVID-19 epidemic,” it reads, in part. “This order is intended to reduce the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 in communities worldwide. If COVID-19 were detected at these festivals, the scope and number of attendees and the nature of the venue would make it inseasible, if not impossible, to track those who may be placed at risk.” Goldenvoice, which operates both festivals, has not issued public comment regarding the public health decision that has shut them down for the time being. Reschedule dates for the 2021 festivals have also not yet been announced. The post Coachella, Stagecoach Festivals Spiked Again by California Health Officials appeared first on TicketNews .
A who’s who of live entertainment companies sent a letter to President Biden earlier this week offering the “full support and resources of the live event industry” in the nationwide push to vaccinate Americans and put an end to the COVID pandemic. Live Nation, AEG, Oak View Group, The Broadway League and the International Association of Venue Managers are among the groups pledging their support, which they propose could involve the use of otherwise shuttered venues as vaccination sites and the employment of venue staff to help manage them. The groups argue that venue management is built upon the ability to get patrons in and out quickly and efficiently in large numbers – a skill set that fits perfectly with the needs of a mass vaccination program such as the one unfolding now across the globe. “Live events is one of the best prepared, best equipped, most experienced industries in America to manage and control large crowds in a rapid, organized fashion,” the letter reads, in part. “Moving people in, out, and around a public gathering space swiftly and safely is the foundation of our industry… There are several thousand companies in the live event industry which own the equipment and infrastructure required to build vaccination sites.” The expertise on offer, coupled with the fact that most live event companies and staff have been forced to either operate at dramatically reduced capacity or shut off altogether by restrictions on mass gatherings, make it an intriguing but ultimately logical thought process. “We have been closed for nearly one full year to protect public health. Please let us now go to work to protect public health,” it continues. “We share your goal to get America back to work, school and in gathering places of all kinds quickly and safely. We are ready to meet to discuss how we can help as soon as you and your staff are able.” The letter was addressed to President Biden at the White House in Washington D.C., dated just six days after his inauguration last week. Acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran, Acting CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease Services Dividion Director Nancy Messonnier and White House Vaccinations Bechara Choucair were copied on the letter. The full letter is available at this link (pdf) The post Live Entertainment Giants Offer Venues, Staff in Vaccination Push appeared first on TicketNews .
In early 2020, the NFL and NFL Players’ Association agreed about the future of sports betting in NFL stadiums. Though the NBA helped lead the charge in 2018 to repeal the Supreme Court’s 1992 PASPA ruling against oddsmakers, the NFL became the first US major league to open up retail betting experiences inside stadiums. The bargaining agreement defines revenue sharing models (to be split between players and owners), the nature of the bets taken (with a possibility of slots also factored into the CBA), and offseason wagering programs. After the NFL’s CBA went live, other major leagues followed suit. The strange addition of allowing slots indicates the partnership between many casinos and sportsbooks. In some states, like Pennsylvania, for example, sportsbooks must be sponsored by a casino partner. There, brick-and-mortar casinos are also looking to set up stadium-like features to attract punters to their retail sportsbook. Given Pennsylvania’s success opening to both online and in-person betting options, trends that unite sportsbooks and stadiums will continue. However, it’s also likely that major stadiums in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia (and in other states with regulated markets) will look to build their Wi-Fi connection to help foster the mobile sports odds boom that other oddsmakers are successfully bringing about. Rather than an in-person retail sportsbook, there are lounges designed for an optimal mobile betting experience. The decision is up to owners, who seem to be split so far. In Washington DC, Capital One Arena has its own retail sportsbook. Farther west, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has an extravagant betting lounge instead. Both are solid starts to uniting major league sports with leading oddsmakers—but which has staying power? Retail Sportsbooks at Stadiums The Full Experience Across the US, twenty states have live legal betting markets, with another six ready to launch their sportsbooks soon. However, each state dictates the stipulations relating to oddsmakers. But some states have only legalized online markets, while others have limited in-person options. With these conditions in mind, franchise owners have looked to build a dynamic betting experience at their stadium. In Washington DC, Capital One Arena opened its own (temporary) retail sportsbook, set up in a classic ticket-counter style. In November 2020, the sportsbook brought in $13.7 million in handle, with $2.7 in revenue. This is a strong example of the power of in-person wagering options—and it caters to the local NHL and NBA franchises, rather than the NFL. Given the NFL is the most lucrative league in North America, the numbers suggest a huge payday for sportsbooks inside NFL stadiums. Nearby, Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington Football Team, is making a play to construct a retail sportsbook inside FedEx Stadium. And, despite the issues marring the MLB , Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago could be on the docket next. Caption: Neyland Stadium, home of the Volunteers. Mobile Betting Lounges Versatility One issue with retail sportsbooks inside stadiums is that they see exclusive partnerships between owners and sportsbooks. At Capital One Arena, there’s only one option for wagering. With a mobile betting lounge, each punter could decide which sportsbook they’ll wager with—in the future, at least. Across the US, sponsored mobile betting lounges are becoming popular. The T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas , the Prudential Center in New Jersey, and the PPG Paints Arena will all open mobile betting lounges that cater to a single sportsbook. Recently, Indiana teams from the NBA’s Pacers to the NFL’s Colts have signed on to multi-year contracts with big-name sportsbooks, while even the NCAA got in on the action with a partnership between the University of Colorado and PointsBet. The emergence of mobile and in-person betting areas inside stadiums are designed to follow statewide regulations. In states where in-person outlets aren’t legal, mobile lounges will thrive. The opposite goes for states without mobile betting markets. In the future, it’s also possible stadiums will work with service providers to enhance mobile betting options—no lounge included. The post Sportsbooks Coming to Stadiums In the US appeared first on TicketNews .
While vaccination efforts continue to roll out across the globe, live events in 2021 are likely to require face masks and social distancing. However, the quality of face masks currently in use by the general public leaves quite a bit to be desired – and that may be an ongoing issue, with safety implications for millions as they return to large scale events as the economy reopens as the year progresses. From ill-fitting surgical masks to often reused cloth masks that provide minimal (if any) barrier to harmful particles, the mask spectrum out there today is in need of improvement. But TicketNetwork and Connecticut BioTech have what they believe is the solution: a steady supply of FDA-approved N95 face masks, made available to venues across the country. The Connecticut-based ticket resale marketplace is partnering with the PPE distributor to offer 10 million N95 face masks to interested venues – enough to provide the medical-grade face masks to every guest at upcoming performances, to ensure consistent quality and mask compliance by all who pass through the turnstiles. Mask distribution will be prioritized based on venue capacity and scheduled events, with face masks priced at $0.50 each – despite some distributors charging as much as $6.00 per mask amid high pandemic demand. “We need to open venues up as quickly and as safely as possible,” TicketNetwork CEO Don Vaccaro says. “Getting N95 respirators to both venue staff and patrons coming through the turnstiles will help them accomplish that goal. As an ancillary benefit, the release of this number of masks into the marketplace will move the supply curve to the right, decreasing the equilibrium price, which will force some of the commercial speculators of masks to release the 100s of millions of respirators they have in storage to the American people and help save even more lives.” In the opening days of the pandemic, the N95 face mask – which filters at least 95 percent of harmful particles from the air when worn properly, became something of a sensation in the media. Supplies were tremendously short, as the masks were critical for the safety of frontline healthcare workers and demand went through the roof. In the months since, production has increased, but supply remains tight as many of the traditional medical houses have kept prices sky-high to maximize profit rather than price these products for consumer use. But with the Biden administration pushing a renewed focus on mask-wearing as a path forward out of the pandemic, the N95 is being increasingly considered a sound alternative for consumers to use for their protection and the protection of those around them. “If for four weeks the country essentially wore these masks in those risky settings like that indoors, what kind of difference do you think it would make,” asked CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta while interviewing Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School physician Dr. Abraar Karan, who has been advocating for public use of N95 respirators. “That would stop the epidemic,” she said. Vaccaro, who launched Connecticut BioTech in 2020 to provide solutions to the PPE crunch brought on by the pandemic, says that the over-charging by medical companies for these respirator face masks has been a huge issue, and this program is designed to help put an end to it. “This is all impacting people who are trying to protect themselves from a deadly virus, and disproportionately impacts people of limited means. That stops today!” By leveraging connections with overseas manufacturers and focusing on products that meet the exacting standards put forth by the Food and Drug Administration as well as NIOSH, Vaccaro believes the N95 face masks distributed to venues will be a boon to event attendance as local authorities begin allowing or expanding crowds in coming weeks and months. Consumers will have more confidence in their safety when they get through the door, and venues will have the ability to add value for their customers by taking at least part of the safety equation out of their hands with a consistent and quality product. Venues interested in applying to be a part of the Connecticut BioTech distribution system can apply online at https://www.ctbiotech.com/venue-sign-up/ The post TIcketNetwork, CTBiotech Pledge 10 Million N95 Face Masks for Venues appeared first on TicketNews .
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission announced three settlements with businesses resolving alleged violations of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act. The settlements mark the first-ever enforcement actions of the Obama-era law, which is designed to prohibit the use of automated software in the acquisition of tickets for resale. Just in Time Tickets Inc, Concert Specials Inc., and Cartism Corp. and their respective owners agreed to the settlements, which include monetary penalties and other terms designed to prevent future violations of BOTS Act provisions. “These defendants are alleged to have cheated the system to the detriment of consumers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Today’s filing serves notice that the Department of Justice will enforce the Better Online Ticket Sales Act in appropriate cases. We are pleased to work with our partners at the Federal Trade Commission on this and other matters important to consumers.” “Those who violate the BOTS Act cheat fans by forcing them to pay inflated prices to attend concerts, theater performances and sporting events,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Seth D. DuCharme for the Eastern District of New York. “This office will spare no effort in prohibiting deceptive practices that harm consumers.” According to a press release announcing the settlements, the defendants allegedly created multiple accounts on primary ticketing systems and used hundreds of credit cards to purchase tickets to live events in excess of limits imposed by the sellers. They allegedly also used ticket bots to “fool tests designed to prevent nonhuman visitors” as well as used programs to hide the IP addresses of computers used to purchase the tickets. The oft-cited use of bots that themselves purchase tickets faster than humans can does not appear to have been involved in the alleged schemes. The penalties assessed in the enforcement action could go as high as $31.6 million. However, adhering to the stipulations of the agreement could see the companies involved paying a fraction of that – as little as $3.7 million. Additional details and the complaints against each specific company are available at the Justice Department’s website . The post Justice Department, FTC Announce Settlements in BOTS Act Enforcement appeared first on TicketNews .
About Us
The Ticket Plug™ (TTP) is a resale marketplace comprised of leading ticket professionals (Plugs) in the ticketing industry. TTP specializes in providing customers with access to comedy, concerts, festivals, sports, theatre, and more. TTP strives to deliver the best ticket buying experience on the planet!