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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning business.
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| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the |
| 5 | | Prohibition on Bots Purchasing Tickets Act.
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| 6 | | Section 5. Definition. As used in this Act, "bot" means |
| 7 | | any automated software program that performs automatic and |
| 8 | | repetitive tasks and is designed to impersonate or replicate |
| 9 | | human activity online. "Bot" does not include auto fill or |
| 10 | | password management features built into an Internet browser or |
| 11 | | provided through separate software.
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| 12 | | Section 10. Prohibition on automated online ticket |
| 13 | | purchasing. |
| 14 | | (a) A person shall not use or create a bot to: |
| 15 | | (1) purchase tickets in excess of posted limits for an |
| 16 | | online ticket sale; |
| 17 | | (2) use multiple Internet protocol addresses, multiple |
| 18 | | purchaser accounts, or multiple email addresses to |
| 19 | | purchase tickets in excess of the posted limit for any |
| 20 | | single online ticket sale; or |
| 21 | | (3) circumvent or disable an electronic queue, waiting |
| 22 | | period, pre-sale code, or other sales volume limitation |
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| 1 | | system associated with an online ticket sale. |
| 2 | | (b) An owner or operator of a place of entertainment that |
| 3 | | sells tickets to events, and any agent who conducts or |
| 4 | | facilitates those sales, shall report any known violation |
| 5 | | described in subsection (a) to the Attorney General within a |
| 6 | | reasonable period of time after discovery of the violation. |
| 7 | | The report shall include: |
| 8 | | (1) a description of the violation; |
| 9 | | (2) any available information about the individuals or |
| 10 | | entities involved in the violation; and |
| 11 | | (3) any measures taken or planned to be taken to |
| 12 | | prevent further violations.
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| 13 | | Section 15. Enforcement by Attorney General. |
| 14 | | (a) The Attorney General may investigate a claim that a |
| 15 | | person violated this Act. |
| 16 | | (b) The Attorney General may bring an action in the name of |
| 17 | | the People of the State to restrain or enjoin the person from |
| 18 | | violating this Act. |
| 19 | | (c) In addition to bringing an action for injunctive |
| 20 | | relief under this Act, the Attorney General may seek |
| 21 | | restitution and petition a circuit court for the assessment of |
| 22 | | a civil penalty as provided by this Section. |
| 23 | | (d) A person who violates Section 10 is liable for a civil |
| 24 | | penalty of not more than $2,000 for each violation. |
| 25 | | (e) Every ticket transaction in which a ticket is acquired |
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| 1 | | to be sold in violation of Section 10 constitutes a separate |
| 2 | | violation for purposes of assessing a civil penalty. |
| 3 | | (f) The Attorney General may recover all reasonable costs |
| 4 | | of bringing an action under this Section, including court |
| 5 | | costs, reasonable attorney's fees, and investigation costs.
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| 6 | | Section 90. The Ticket Sale and Resale Act is amended by |
| 7 | | adding Section 1.6 as follows:
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| 8 | | (815 ILCS 414/1.6 new) |
| 9 | | Sec. 1.6. Consumer protections for ticket sales. |
| 10 | | (a) As used in this Section: |
| 11 | | "Operator" means a person that owns, operates, or controls |
| 12 | | a place of entertainment or that promotes or produces |
| 13 | | entertainment and that sells a ticket to an entertainment |
| 14 | | event as the first sale of the ticket. |
| 15 | | "Ticket issuer" means any person who makes tickets |
| 16 | | available, directly or indirectly, to the general public, and |
| 17 | | may include: |
| 18 | | (1) the operator of the venue; |
| 19 | | (2) the sponsor or promoter of an event; |
| 20 | | (3) a sports team participating in an event or a |
| 21 | | league whose teams are participating in an event; |
| 22 | | (4) a theater company, musical group, or similar |
| 23 | | participant in an event; or |
| 24 | | (5) an agent for any such person. |
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| 1 | | "Ticket resale marketplace" means a person that operates a |
| 2 | | platform or exchange for the resale of tickets between third |
| 3 | | parties or between the ticket resale marketplace and a third |
| 4 | | party. "Ticket resale marketplace" includes a ticket issuer |
| 5 | | only to the extent the ticket issuer is acting to facilitate |
| 6 | | the resale of tickets between third parties or between the |
| 7 | | ticket issuer, acting as a ticket resale marketplace, and a |
| 8 | | third party. |
| 9 | | "Ticket reseller" means a person engaged in the resale of |
| 10 | | tickets. |
| 11 | | (b) A ticket resale marketplace or ticket reseller shall |
| 12 | | not make any false representation that is likely to mislead a |
| 13 | | reasonable consumer into believing that the marketplace or |
| 14 | | reseller is affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf |
| 15 | | of an artist, team, event venue, or event organizer. The use of |
| 16 | | an artist, team, venue, or event name solely to identify the |
| 17 | | event for which a ticket is offered for resale shall not, by |
| 18 | | itself, constitute a violation of this Section. |