The office of the attorney general of New York announced on Tuesday that it has reached settlements worth $2.76 million with six ticket brokers as part of its continuing investigation into the online ticket scalping market.
The investigation by the attorney general’s office was announced in January with a 41-page report that detailed the many ways — both legal and illegal — that ordinary fans of concerts, Broadway shows and sporting events are prevented from finding tickets online. Among them are brokers’ use of “bots,” or automated software, to quickly seize the best seats, which are then frequently resold to consumers at inflated prices.
“New Yorkers deserve a fairer ticket marketplace,” the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, said in a statement. “Our office will continue to enforce New York’s ticket laws by investigating ticket brokers who are breaking our laws, and making them pay for their illegal acts.”
Six ticket brokers in five states were found to be selling tickets in New York since 2011 without a proper license, as required by state law: TicketToad.com of New Jersey; Flying Falco Entertainment of California, which operates under the name Avery Tickets; Charm City Entertainment of Florida; All Events Utah; and Just in Time Tickets and A2Z Tix, both of New York.
The attorney general found that all of those companies except Charm City Entertainment also used bots to buy tickets, which is prohibited by New York State law. Flying Falco Entertainment paid the largest settlement, at $1,125,000, and Charm City paid the least, at $100,000. Counting two other settlements that were announced in January, the attorney general’s office has collected just over $2.9 million in settlements related to the investigation.
The inquiry found that TicketToad had illegally bought 520 tickets to a Beyoncé concert at Barclays Center in August 2013 within three minutes, and that Avery Tickets bought 522 tickets to a One Direction show at Jones Beach in June 2013 within five minutes.
The settlements require that the companies obtain proper licenses as ticket resellers, and stop using bots.
The attorney general’s report in January also laid out ambitious plans for pressuring the bigger powers of the music industry, saying that it had suggested reforms to the major ticketing vendors for dealing with the “bot epidemic,” and asking concert promoters and other industry players to be more transparent about how tickets are released. But the announcement on Tuesday included no information about those plans.