Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan on Friday, requesting that the consumer protection agency more consistently enforce the nearly decade-old legislation that was passed to try and stop scalpers from using bots to corner the market on concert tickets.
The Better Online Tickets Sales Act (Or BOTS Act) was signed into law at the end of 2016, making it illegal to use bots to circumvent security measures and lines to purchase mass amounts of concert tickets before actual fans could get their hands on them. But eight years later, the FTC has only enforced the BOTS act once, against three New York-based ticket brokers.
“This lack of deterrence from the underenforcement of the BOTS Act has fostered a sense of impunity, inviting more scalpers with more sophisticated schemes, driving up prices for consumers, and creating a minefield of scams,” Blumenthal wrote in his letter Friday.
It’s hard to gauge just how often brokers and scalpers use bots to get their tickets given how murky they operate their businesses. Bots are one of several strategies brokers use to get a leg up. Live Nation Entertainment president and CFO Joe Berchtold told a Senate Judiciary panel last year that a bot attack was the main cause of the infamously disastrous rollout for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets back in 2022.
It’s unclear how much of a difference Blumenthal’s request will make at the moment given that Donald Trump will presumably find a new chairperson to replace Khan once he takes office in January. Along with the enforcement request, he also asked for the FTC provide a briefing on the commission’s prior enforcement efforts as well as recommendations on how to improve the ticket marketplace.
“I urge the Federal Trade Commission to vigorously enforce our consumer protection laws
in the live event market, including the BOTS Act, to protect concertgoers and venues from
predatory ticketing schemes,” Blumenthal wrote.
Both Live Nation — which faces a federal lawsuit over allegations that it monopolizes the concert and ticketing businesses — and smaller competing concert promoters and venues have called on more stringent enforcement of the BOTS Act to improve the market. The National Independent Venue Association and its Fix the Tix coalition supported Blumenthal’s letter Friday.
“Senator Blumenthal’s letter to the FTC is a much-needed step in holding predatory ticket brokers and resale platforms accountable,” Stephen Parker NIVA‘s executive director, said in a statement. “We hope today’s action causes the FTC to finally enforce the BOTS Act after years of inaction and sparks a wave of action from state legislators to enforce stronger ticketing protections for consumers nationwide.”
