Michigan House passes bills seeking to crack down on ticket scalping

Detroit Lions fans at Ford Field celebrate the team's second playoff game victory on Jan. 21, 2024, after the Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23, advancing to compete in the NFC Championship game. (Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Michigan House lawmakers passed two bills Wednesday aimed at making it easier to get tickets to see Taylor Swift next time she plays Ford Field, or for any other high-profile performance or sporting event in the state.

Many ticket purchasing platforms, including Ticketmaster, put caps on the amount of tickets a person can buy. The bills would make it illegal for people to use technology or software to get around the cap, which is usually done to purchase tickets with the intention of selling them back at higher prices. 

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This can make it harder for people to get affordable tickets to a concert or live event. 

“The rise of online ticket sales has unfortunately coincided with an increase in the use of bots to circumvent security measures and purchase tickets in bulk, often at the expense of fans,” said state Rep. Mike McFall (D-Hazel Park), who sponsored one of the bills. “This practice not only inflates prices, but also denies many people the opportunity to attend their favorite events.”

One of the more high profile scalping incidents was the Taylor Swift Eras tour presale. Ticketmaster had to cancel public sales because of the amount of people, including bots, who tried to get on the site during presale. The bills were dubbed “Taylor Swift” bills by sponsors McFall and Rep. Graham Filler (R-St. Johns).

The bills, which banned the scalping technology and created fines for their usage, passed with bipartisan support. HB 5661 passed 106-4 and HB 5662 passed 98-12. The bills will now head over to the Senate. 

If someone violates HB 5661, there is a fee of up to $5,000 per ticket that would be put into the state’s general fund.

Ticketmaster, StubHub and Vivid Seats have “reached out to support” the legislation, Filler told the Advance in an interview on Friday. 

“These bot companies make everyone look bad,” Filler said. “They create a bad consumer experience, and that means people go on Twitter and complain about Ticketmaster.”

While creating the scalping technology is illegal federally, these bills give the attorney general more power to investigate claims. The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces the 2016 BOTS Act, has only announced the crack down on three cases in 2021.

“The federal BOTS Act was a step in the right direction, but its enforcement has been lacking with no cases brought forward since at least 2021,” McFall said. “These bills aim is to fill this enforcement gap at the state level.”

Filler told the Advance that these bills will also give the attorney general direct power to investigate bot claims to avoid companies saying the state does not have authority over the issue. 

Other states have passed their own laws to limit ticket scalping, including banning the use of bots or prohibiting people from selling tickets at a significantly higher rate than they were originally purchased. If Michigan’s law passes, Filler said this would help improve tourism and the economy because performers, teams or festivals will continue coming to the state.

“If we’re viewed as a place where venues … the artists or the supporting team feel protected and feels supported by Michigan law, then I think that leads to good results,” Filler said to the Advance.

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