Engadget says three ticket resellers in the New York area have been fined by the FTC under the BOTS Act. It is the first case to fall under the Obama-era anti-scalping legislation passed in 2016. Three companies – Just in Time Tickets, Inc., Cartisim Corp. and Concert Specials, Inc. – and their clients – Evan Kohanian, Simon Ebrani, and Steven Brani allegedly used ticket bots to buy tickets for the resale market. They received a civil sentence totaling $ 3.7 million.
“The three ticket brokers will be fined more than $ 31 million for violating the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) law as part of a settlement proposed with the FTC,” the summary of the case said. “Due to their insolvency, the verdict is partially suspended and they have to pay $ 3.7 million.”
“The bill’s bipartisan sponsors sought to combat the abuses that unscrupulous actors inflict on consumers whose typing fingers mismatched algorithms to secure tickets online,” said a statement by FTC incumbent chair Rebecca Kelly Slaughter the BOTS acted while under Senator Chuck Schumer. “The comparisons our employees negotiated with these alleged violations of the BOTS law make it clear that those who cheat fans of a fair shot in order to secure tickets to live events will have dire consequences.”
Read “Why Ticket Scalping Doesn’t Go Away” on the playing field.
