Gov. Hochul approves crackdown on online ticket brokers over extra charges

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill Thursday aimed at cracking down on “malicious” hidden charges for tickets to concerts and sporting events — as well as tech that scoops up free ducats to sell for a profit before regular New Yorkers can get them.

The legislation amends and reups the state’s “Ticketing Law” by boosting civil fines for using ticket purchasing software and mandating online vendors show the complete price of a ticket rather than concealing certain charges.

The new law also bans extra fees on tickets distributed via email, app or text in addition to those that are printed at home, and forbids the resale of tickets if they were initially offered for free.  

“Live entertainment has long been a critical sector in our economy, and as consumers and the industry recover from the pandemic, it is important that we make the ticket-buying experience easier and more transparent,” Hochul said in a statement. “This bill will expand penalties for malicious ticketing practices that have made live events inaccessible to New Yorkers for too long.”

Hochul gave her approval after State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Newburgh), head of the body’s investigations committee, released a 113-page report in May 2021 that charged companies like Ticketmaster with ripping Empire State residents off by charging additional fees for sports and concert tickets.

The bill also increases the fines for using ticket purchasing software.Scott Eells/Bloomberg via Getty Images“This bill will expand penalties for malicious ticketing practices that have made live events inaccessible to New Yorkers for too long,” Hochul said.Corey Sipkin for New York Post

On Thursday, Skoufis and other state lawmakers praised Hochul for rubber-stamping the legislation.

“While there’s still more work to be done to ensure the live event ticketing industry is fully accountable to its customer, I am proud of the work we accomplished this year to eliminate hidden fees, ensure all-in pricing, fight bots, and several other measures to inject some honesty into the ticket-buying process,” Skoufis said.

“I thank the governor for signing this important bill and helping to keep more money in consumers’ pockets.”

Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell (D-Manhattan) gushed that the bill “creates a fair playing field for all those in the industry, adds important new consumer protections, and makes sure that fans and eventgoers have access to tickets for all the events they want to see.”