Governor signs bill to protect ticket purchasers from scalpers, bots

Sayonara, scalpers.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday, November 28 signed legislation aimed at combating unfair and illegal ticket purchasing and reselling practices.

The bill creates new penalties for those who use computer software known as “ticket bots” to manipulate systems designed to limit the number of tickets to an event that an individual can buy. These tickets, in turn, end up resold on ticket marketplace websites for sometimes double and triple their original asking prices.

“These unscrupulous speculators and their underhanded tactics have manipulated the marketplace and often leave New Yorkers and visitors alike with little choice but to buy tickets on the secondary market at an exorbitant mark-up,” said Cuomo. “It’s predatory, it’s wrong and, with this legislation, we are taking an important step towards restoring fairness and equity back to this multi-billion dollar industry.”

Under the new legislation, those who resell tickets they know were obtained using said software would also face new penalties. It also establishes a class A misdemeanor for using the bots, and expands the definition of ticket purchasing software to include the wide variety of systems used today to sell out shows.

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