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Re:

FTC alleges Ticketmaster let scalpers evade ticket limits and profit from resale

The FTC alleges Ticketmaster let brokers use multiple accounts to exceed ticket limits and benefited when some tickets were resold. The case was still pending in September 2026.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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The Federal Trade Commission alleges that Live Nation and Ticketmaster let ticket brokers get around artists’ ticket-buying limits, then earned additional fees when some of those tickets were resold through Ticketmaster. The FTC filed its case on September 18, 2025; as of the agency’s September 30, 2026 update, the case remained pending. The allegations have not been established as facts by a court.

What the FTC says the emails showed

In its September 18, 2025 announcement, the FTC said a senior Ticketmaster executive wrote that the companies “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” to brokers’ violations of ticket limits. The FTC presents the email as evidence supporting its allegations; it is not a court’s final interpretation of the message.

The complaint also describes TradeDesk, software that the FTC says brokers used to track and aggregate tickets bought through multiple accounts. The agency’s theory is that brokers could use many accounts to buy more tickets than an artist’s posted limit allowed, while the defendants allegedly permitted tickets acquired beyond those limits to be resold on Ticketmaster.

How the alleged resale business worked

The complaint concerns two stages of a ticket transaction. In the primary sale, brokers allegedly used numerous accounts to exceed limits set by artists. In the resale market, the FTC alleges, some of those tickets were listed through Ticketmaster, generating resale fees and markups for which the companies benefited.

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Those amounts are not interchangeable: a ticket’s face or listed price is distinct from mandatory fees, any resale markup, and the total a buyer pays at checkout. The complaint’s claim is that defendants benefited from resale fees and markups; it does not establish that every resale listing, broker transaction, or fee was unlawful.

The FTC also alleges deceptive pricing and misrepresentations about ticket limits. It says the conduct violated the FTC Act’s prohibition on deceptive acts or practices and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. These are claims in a complaint, not findings of liability.

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What the complaint’s numbers represent

The FTC’s 2025 complaint cites account and ticket volumes it attributes to five brokers, along with internal projections about the effects of enforcing limits more strictly:

Figure What the complaint says it represents
6,345 accounts Accounts the FTC alleges were controlled by five brokers.
246,407 tickets to 2,594 events Tickets the FTC alleges those brokers possessed.
55 percent, or more than five million tickets per year The complaint’s cited projection of how much broker resale inventory could fall if the defendants enforced limits against circumvention.
Nearly $220 million in annual resale revenue and more than $26 million in annual operating income The complaint’s cited projection of the annual revenue and operating-income reductions associated with stronger limit enforcement.

These figures are allegations and company analyses recited in the FTC complaint. They are not independently verified audit results or amounts a court has found were lost or earned unlawfully.

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Who filed the case and its current status

The FTC and seven states—Virginia, Utah, Florida, Tennessee, Nebraska, Illinois, and Colorado—filed the lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster on September 18, 2025. The FTC’s case page, last updated September 30, 2026, lists the case as pending and records an order that day denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss.

A denial of a motion to dismiss is a procedural ruling, not a decision that the allegations are true. The FTC itself notes that it files a complaint when it has reason to believe violations occurred, and that the court will decide the case. The available case information does not establish a final finding on the merits.

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Why the case matters to ticket buyers

The case puts scrutiny on how posted ticket limits are enforced and on the relationship between primary sales and resale fees. FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in the agency’s September 18, 2025 release: “It should not cost an arm and a leg to take the family to a baseball game or attend your favorite musician’s show.” Whether the alleged conduct violated the law remains for the court to decide.

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