Michigan bills to further prevent the use of ticket-buying bots received a House committee hearing Wednesday.
Ticket bots are often used to snatch up event tickets by getting around purchase limits, waiting periods, or other safeguards.
In high profile cases, like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, they led to exorbitant prices on the resale market.
State Representative Mike McFall (D-Hazel Park) is a package co-sponsor. He says bots are a problem the state needs to address.
“This harms the entertainment industry and harms consumers by creating an unnecessary financial barrier. Our bills would provide the attorney general with the necessary tools to investigate and act against those who are misusing bots to excessively purchase tickets,” McFall said during the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
The federal government has already outlawed using ticket bots to scam the system. But supporters of the Michigan bills say they’re necessary to ensure scammers quickly face consequences.
“The problem is, sometimes at that federal level there's so many things going on, it's hard to rein this in, which is why we kind of want to deal with it here in the state of Michigan, so the AG's office has a little more teeth than we can act within our state,” said Rep. Mike Harris (R-Waterford), another package co-sponsor.
Under the bills, using bots to abuse the ticket-buying process could lead to a $5,000 fine per ticket gained.
Similar bills were introduced last legislative term but didn’t make it to the governor.
