Premier Doug Ford is taking aim at ticket scalpers seven years after removing a cap on resale prices that his government deemed “unenforceable.”
Just in time for Toronto’s FIFA World Cup games this spring but too late for last fall’s Blue Jays World Series — when Ford lamented ticket “gouging” — the province is planning to outlaw ticket resales that cost more than the original price, the Star has learned.
The move is a threat to ticket resale sites, which would lose their ability to markup tickets for a profit and have warned previously that price caps risk driving secondary sales into the black market.
“With these new measures, consumers would no longer need to worry about being ripped off in the ticket resale market,” Stephen Crawford, the cabinet minister responsible for the file, said in a statement obtained Thursday by the Star.
Ontario is following the lead of the U.K. government, which proposed in November to make it illegal to resell tickets for sports games, concerts, comedy shows and other live events above the original cost.
The country’s business minister, Peter Kyle, pledged the measure would “smash” the business model of “touts” — British slang for scalpers and resellers.
In Ontario, there will be new powers to stop what the government calls “unfair service charges and fees” and to protect against the sale of fake tickets through improved validity guarantee requirements.
The changes will be made through amendments to the previous Liberal government’s Ticket Sales Act passed in 2017 that also banned the online bots used to automatically snap up tickets. Two years later, Ford’s government scrapped provisions of that law capping ticket resale prices at 50 per cent above the original price.
At the time, government and consumer services minister Bill Walker said the limit was “unenforceable” because there was no requirement to disclose the original price.
Under amendments to be proposed when MPPs begin the spring session of the legislature on Monday, ticket resellers would be legally required to inform the buyer of the original price, associated fees, services charges and taxes, a government source said Thursday, speaking privately to discuss internal deliberations.
Buyers will be advised to report any suspected violations to Consumer Protection Ontario, part of Crawford’s ministry of public and business service delivery and procurement, which can levy penalties.
Consultations will be held to decide penalties, which are now set at a maximum of $10,000 but could go as high as $25,000, the source added.
Ford’s change of heart came after the Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers played a tight, seven-game World Series in October and fans faced skyrocketing prices.
Prime seats in the lower bowl at the Rogers Centre were going for as much as $10,000 from resellers.
“They’re gouging the people,” Ford said.
There were also concerns two years ago over high prices for Taylor Swift concert tickets.
