California has joined the states regulating ticket resale. On September 27, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1349, which prohibits resellers from advertising, listing or selling “ghost tickets,” meaning tickets they do not hold at the time of sale.
What the law does
- It bans software that defeats ticket limits or skips online queues.
- It bans deceptive websites and ads that make a reseller look like an authorized marketplace.
- Violations can be charged as misdemeanors.
Late changes and objections
The bill was amended at the last minute, and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) did not like the result. The changes exempt sports teams and venues that manage their own ticketing, and they remove resale marketplaces from the definition of a speculative ticket seller. NIVA argues this protects larger resellers such as StubHub.
Newsom signaled his own doubts: “While there may be good reasons for exempting certain sellers from the bill’s provisions, such a carve-out deserves further discussion.”
“[AB 1349] puts the small businesses and nonprofits that put on shows every night at risk. And, it endangers fans’ economic well-being.”
That was Stephen Parker, executive director of NIVA. Brian Berry, executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum, which represents StubHub and other resellers, disagrees with that reading.
“AB 1349 bans the sale of speculative tickets, including on resale marketplaces. Any other interpretation is clearly divorced from the text of the law and from reality. Our members will of course comply with the speculative ticketing ban and the many other new requirements that come with this new law.”
