Consumer advocates are urging the governor of Massachusetts to amend a law that they say makes it harder to sell concert or game tickets that they no longer want or need.
The Economic Development Bill prohibits people from selling tickets on platforms other than the one they bought it on, according to the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group.
The group claims the law prohibits fans from comparison
shopping "across different marketplaces where current ticket holders can resell at prices either above or below the original cost."
“Requiring event tickets to be transferable is both a key consumer protection and common sense," said Deirdre Cummings, Legislative and Consumer Program Director for MASSPIRG.
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Backers of the law say it protects consumers as they can be assured that the original ticket was sold by a reputable service. A spokesperson for Live Nation also said it gives fans a competitive advantage when trying to purchase highly sought-after tickets.
"It's about whether the professional ticket brokers and the ticket resale sites that support them can use their bots and all their other tactics to grab thousands and thousands of tickets that were meant for real fans and instead put them on resale markets where they're going to double the price," said Dan Wall, the vice president of corporate and regulatory affairs for Live Nation, told WBZ-TV in Boston.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has not signaled whether she will seek changes to the law.
