SB3623 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB104 18561 SPS 32004 b

104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2025 and 2026
SB3623

Introduced 2/5/2026, by Sen. Seth Lewis

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

New Act
30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new
815 ILCS 414/Act rep.
815 ILCS 505/2MMMM new

Creates the Ticket Sale and Resale Act of 2026. Provides that a ticket purchaser may freely transfer, donate, or resell the purchaser's ticket to any person or on any lawful ticket marketplace. Provides that any person or business that sells or resells tickets shall display the total price of the ticket at the first point in the purchasing process where ticket prices are shown. Provides that, if an event for which tickets have been sold is canceled and not rescheduled, every ticket seller shall issue a full refund of the ticket price and all associated fees to the original purchaser. Sets forth provisions concerning ticket hold back disclosures; exclusive venue ticketing agreements; open ticketing data and interoperability; automated ticket purchasing bots; prohibition of resale price floors; prohibition of resale price caps; and disputes. Provides that a violation of the Act constitutes an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. Limits home rule. Repeals the Ticket Sale and Resale Act. Amends the State Finance Act and the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act to make conforming changes. Effective January 1, 2027.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning business.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Ticket Sale and Resale Act of 2026.

Section 5. Ticket hold back disclosures.

(a) At the time that tickets to an event are first made available for sale to the public, including any pre-sale, the ticket issuer or primary seller shall clearly and conspicuously publish the total number of tickets offered for sale and the number of tickets withheld from the public sale. This disclosure shall include, at a minimum, a detailed itemization of:

(1) the number of tickets allocated to artist, venue, or promoter holds, including fan clubs or sponsor allocations;

(2) the number of tickets allocated to pre-sale promotions, including credit card or VIP pre-sales;

(3) the number of tickets allocated to premium package or dynamic pricing tiers; and

(4) the number of tickets not released for public purchase at the initial sale.

The issuer shall publish the disclosure required under this subsection at least 24 hours before the first ticket is sold to the public.

(b) The issuer shall make the hold-back information publicly available on its website or on a State-maintained ticket disclosure portal and shall update the information in real time as tickets are released from holds or otherwise reallocated.

Section 10. Free transferability of tickets.

(a) A ticket purchaser may freely transfer, donate, or resell the ticket to any person or on any lawful ticket marketplace. No ticket issuer, venue, or operator of a ticketing platform may employ any technological design or contract term that restricts a ticket to a single platform or restricts the purchaser's ability to transfer the ticket, whether by requiring exclusive use of a particular app, by making the ticket nontransferable, or by designating the ticket "will-call only". Any contractual provision or ticket term purporting to limit the resale, gift, or transfer of a lawfully purchased ticket, including terms printed on a ticket or in purchase agreements, is void and unenforceable.

(b) Every ticket issued for a live event in this State shall be deliverable to the buyer in a readily transferable, standard format, such as a paper ticket, a Portable Document Format (PDF), or a universally readable digital barcode or token, at no additional cost. If an issuer offers a ticket in a restricted or locked digital format, including a mobile-only ticket that cannot be transferred except by the issuer's system, the issuer shall also offer an alternative delivery of the same ticket in a transferable format without additional charges or inconvenience. The consumer shall not be forced to waive transferability, and any nontransferable ticket option may be offered only alongside a fully transferable option of equal usefulness.

(c) No additional fee may be charged to a consumer for transferring a ticket or for receiving a ticket in a transferable format. An issuer or venue shall not require the disclosure of personal information beyond what is reasonably necessary for the initial purchase as a condition of transfer or use of a ticket by a transferee. The original purchaser or any subsequent holder of a ticket shall be able to transfer the ticket to another person without requiring that person to create an account with the original ticketing platform or divulge personally identifying information other than that needed for event entry. Requiring a prospective ticket purchaser to surrender excessive personal data to receive or transfer a ticket is a violation of this subsection.

(d) A ticket issuer or venue shall not penalize, cancel, or refuse to honor a ticket solely because it was resold or transferred by a lawful method. A ticket constitutes a revocable license for event admission, but once issued to the buyer, the license is freely transferable. The venue may verify that a ticket presented at entry is genuine and has not been previously used, but it shall not condition entry on the ticket being in the original purchaser's name or purchased from an approved resale platform. All tickets, whether primary or resale, shall be treated equally at entry if the ticket is valid.

Section 15. Upfront pricing of tickets.

(a) Any person or business that sells or resells tickets, including primary ticket sellers, ticket brokers, secondary ticket exchanges, and online marketplaces, shall display the total price of the ticket, inclusive of all fees, service charges, surcharges, and taxes, at the first point in the purchasing process where ticket prices are shown. The initial advertised price seen by a consumer shall be the final price the consumer will pay to purchase the ticket, except that government-imposed taxes or elective delivery fees may be added if and only if those amounts are disclosed clearly in advance and cannot reasonably be calculated until checkout. No mandatory fee, including venue fees, facility charges, convenience fees, or similar, or add-ons shall be excluded from the displayed ticket price.

(b) The all-in total price shall be displayed more prominently than any individual component prices or fees. If a seller chooses to also list a base price plus fees for informational purposes, the total shall be presented in a size and style at least as prominent as the base price. An itemization of included fees or taxes shall be made available to the buyer before purchase, but the itemization shall not be presented in a manner that dilutes or obscures the total purchase price.

(c) Once a ticket is selected for purchase at the advertised all-in price, that price shall not increase during the checkout process. It is unlawful to add hidden fees or surcharges at payment except in the case of:

(1) additions of optional services affirmatively selected by the consumer, such as the purchase of upgraded shipping or a parking pass; and

(2) updates to tax calculations or currency conversions as a result of information supplied by the consumer.

The final total charged shall not exceed the initially displayed total for the chosen delivery method and ticket quantity unless the consumer voluntarily purchases add-ons.

(d) This Section applies to primary ticket sales, secondary ticket sales, and any advertising or search results within this State that show ticket prices. Any online platform or mobile app that displays ticket listings for events in this State shall comply with this Section. A third-party platform that aggregates tickets from multiple sellers is not liable for a seller's failure to include fees, provided the platform itself prominently requires all listings to use all-in pricing and removes or corrects any listing found to violate this Section.

Section 20. Exclusive venue ticketing agreements.

(a) No contract or agreement between an event venue in this State and a ticketing service provider may require the venue to use exclusively that ticketing service for all events for a term exceeding 5 years. Any provision that directly or indirectly extends an exclusive ticketing arrangement beyond a 5-year term, such as automatic renewal clauses or rights of first refusal that would cumulatively lengthen exclusivity past 5 years, is prohibited and void. Venues and ticketing companies may renew or enter a new exclusive contract after the term, but shall at that time allow competitive proposals from other ticketing providers.

(b) If a venue receives public funding or is owned by a unit of local government, any contract for ticketing services, whether exclusive or not, shall be awarded through a competitive bidding or request-for-proposals process at the time of contracting or renewal. A publicly funded venue shall not extend an exclusive ticketing deal without soliciting bids from other qualified ticketing companies when the term expires.

(c) It is unlawful for any event promoter or tour organizer to retaliate against or refuse to do business with a venue in this State on the basis of the venue's choice of ticketing platform. In particular, no promoter, including any entity that owns or is affiliated with a ticketing service, may withhold live events, reduce event bookings, or impose financial penalties on a venue because the venue declined to sign an exclusive ticketing contract with that promoter's preferred ticketing service.

(d) Any venue or the Attorney General may bring an action to invalidate contract provisions that violate this Section. In an action brought by the Attorney General to enforce this Section, a court may impose appropriate injunctive relief and civil penalties. A willful retaliation by a promoter is subject to enhanced penalties as the court deems appropriate.

Section 25. Open ticketing data and interoperability.

(a) Any primary ticket issuer operating in this State shall implement reasonable technical measures to facilitate an open data exchange that allows tickets to be authentically validated across different ticket resale platforms. The issuer shall provide a publicly accessible application programming interface or other interoperable electronic system through which a resale marketplace or other third-party ticket platform, certified as legitimate, can verify the validity of a ticket's barcode or unique digital identifier in real time. The application programming interface shall also enable the secure transfer or issuance of a new barcode when a ticket is resold, so that the buyer obtains a valid ticket that will be honored at the venue.

(b) A primary ticket issuer shall not deliberately block or degrade any lawful attempt by a consumer or a competing exchange to verify or deliver a ticket. Any practice of issuing tickets in a format that cannot be accepted by or converted for use on other platforms, without providing an open-data method as described in subsection (a) is an unlawful practice under this Act.

(c) The Attorney General shall convene industry stakeholders to establish technical standards for the secure exchange of ticket validation data, including creating standards for certified resale exchanges and developing protocols to protect against fraud while enabling interoperability. The Attorney General may adopt rules to implement the standards. The Attorney General may also adopt rules requiring registration or certification of resale platforms that wish to access the primary validation application programming interface, solely to ensure that only bona fide businesses use the data interfaces. The rules shall not exclude legitimate competitors.

(d) No later than January 1, 2028, primary issuers shall conform their systems to the standards set forth by rule under subsection (c) or, if no specific standard is established, shall at minimum provide an application programming interface with the core functionalities outlined in subsection (a).

(e) Any data exchanged in accordance with this Section shall be limited to what is necessary to verify tickets and facilitate transfers, such as barcode numbers, cryptographic tokens, event and seat details, and shall exclude sensitive personal consumer information, except as needed for authentication. The primary issuer may require reasonable security measures to prevent abuse of the validation system, and third-party platforms shall abide by the security requirements.

Section 30. Ticket refunds for canceled or postponed events.

(a) If an event for which tickets have been sold is canceled and not rescheduled, every ticket seller, broker, or marketplace that sold tickets to consumers for that event shall issue a full refund of the ticket price and all associated fees to the original purchaser. All refunds for cancellations shall be processed to the original form of payment within 7 business days after the event's cancellation. Except as provided in subsection (d), the consumer shall not be required to take any action to obtain this refund, nor to accept a voucher or credit in lieu of monetary refund. This requirement applies to primary ticket issuers as well as secondary resellers. The entity that received payment from the consumer is responsible for refunding that consumer, and may then seek reimbursement from the event organizer or other relevant parties.

(b) If an event is postponed or rescheduled to a new date, tickets for the original date shall be honored for the rescheduled date. If an event's date is postponed and no rescheduled date is announced within 60 days after the original date, any ticket purchaser may, at any time thereafter until a new date is announced, request a full refund of the ticket, including fees, and the seller shall provide it within 7 business days after the request. If an event is rescheduled for a date more than 12 months after the originally scheduled date, then no later than 30 days after one year from the original date, every ticket purchaser shall be notified of the right to claim a full refund. If the purchaser opts for a refund within a 30-day window after notification, the seller or issuer shall process that refund, including all fees, within 7 business days after the request.

(c) If a cancellation or a qualifying postponement occurs, the primary issuer or the ticket marketplace through which the ticket was purchased shall notify all known ticket purchasers by email, or the original communication method, of the cancellation or postponement and explain the refund procedure and rights available. This notice shall be sent within 5 business days after the cancellation or the trigger date for a long postponement refund option. Secondary resale platforms are responsible for notifying and refunding customers who bought tickets on the platform, but they are also entitled to similarly prompt reimbursement from upstream sources.

(d) A ticket seller or issuer may offer impacted consumers the choice of accepting a credit, voucher, or ticket exchange in lieu of cash refund. Any offer shall be completely optional and presented as a positive choice by the consumer. A seller or issuer shall not issue a coupon or credit automatically or make that the sole remedy under this subsection. The default, unless the consumer affirmatively opts for a credit, is a monetary refund to the original payment method. Credits to be used with a specific seller or issuer can only be used in place of refund if the customer knowingly and voluntarily selects that option after the event is canceled or postponed.

(e) The Attorney General may take action against any party in the ticket supply chain, including the issuer, reseller, or marketplace, that fails to satisfy the requirements of this Section. In determining liability among multiple parties, the entity that transacted directly with the consumer will be primarily responsible to provide the refund, without prejudice to that entity's right to recover losses from the responsible upstream event organizer.

Section 35. Automated ticket purchasing bots.

(a) It is illegal for any person to use, sell, or offer to use any automated software, script, bot, or other electronic device that is designed to circumvent security measures or purchasing limits on a ticket selling platform for the purpose of purchasing event tickets in excess of authorized limits or at a speed faster than human buyers. Each ticket purchase or attempt made in violation of this subsection is a separate offense.

(b) A primary ticketing platform or venue that detects a bot attack or other suspicious automated purchasing activity during an online ticket sale for an event in this State shall report the incident to the Attorney General within 48 hours after the discovery of the occurrence. The report shall include, to the extent known:

(1) a description of the nature of the bot activity or attack, including the volume of tickets targeted and any observed techniques used to bypass security;

(2) any information reasonably available about the identity of the party or parties responsible, such as Internet protocol addresses, account names, and purchase data associated with the activity;

(3) measures the platform has taken or plans to take to counteract the activity and prevent similar future attacks; and

(4) whether the bots materially interfered with ticket availability. An issuer's timely good-faith report under this subsection does not incur liability for a violation of subsection (a).

(c) A primary ticket seller that experiences automated purchasing attacks shall maintain internal records of the incidents described in subsection (b), including server logs or sales records showing the illicit activity, for at least 3 years after the incident is discovered. The records shall be made available to the Attorney General or other law enforcement upon request for investigative purposes. If a secondary ticket marketplace becomes aware that tickets listed on its platform were originally obtained using bots, it should retain any pertinent data about the seller and transaction and cooperate with law enforcement inquiries.

(d) The Attorney General may bring civil enforcement actions against any person who uses or facilitates the use of bots in violation of subsection (a). In addition to other remedies, the court may impose civil penalties up to $10,000 for each violation or any higher amount authorized by federal law, if applicable. Ticketing platforms that willfully fail to report bot incidents as required by subsection (b) may also be liable for civil penalties. The Attorney General may seek restitution or other equitable relief for affected consumers, as appropriate.

(e) All moneys collected under this Section shall be deposited into the Ticket Sale and Resale Security Fund, a special fund created in the State treasury. The Attorney General shall use moneys in the Fund to enforce this Act and to improve cyber-security measures against ticketing bots.

Section 40. Prohibition of resale price floors.

(a) It is unlawful for any ticket issuer, event organizer, venue, or ticket marketplace to establish or enforce a minimum resale price for tickets. No participant in the ticketing industry may require that a ticket be resold for at least a certain price or percentage of face value, or otherwise prohibit the resale of a ticket below a specified price. Any clause in a contract or terms of service that imposes a price floor on resale transactions is void and unenforceable.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) do not apply to a non-binding pricing guidance or suggestion if the guidance or suggestion is clear that it is optional and for informational purposes only. A platform or organizer shall not penalize a seller for disregarding a suggested price by choosing to list the ticket at a lower price.

(c) An event organizer or promoter shall not take any adverse action against a ticket purchaser for reselling a ticket at a lower price. Any attempt by a promoter to enforce a minimum resale price through contractual means, such as revoking benefits or charging extra fees if tickets are resold under a set amount, is invalid.

(d) The Attorney General may investigate complaints and seek injunctions or fines against entities that maintain minimum price rules. Sellers or consumers who are harmed may report the issue for enforcement.

Section 45. Prohibition of resale price caps.

(a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, no provision of law shall be construed to impose an upper limit on resale prices or to criminalize the resale of tickets at a price above face value.

(b) Any clause in an initial ticket sale contract or ticket license that purports to forbid resale above a certain price is void and unenforceable.

Section 50. Home rule. The regulation of ticket resale pricing is an exclusive power and function of the State. A home rule unit may not regulate ticket resale pricing. This Section is a denial and limitation of home rule powers and functions under subsection (h) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution.

Section 55. Disputes; arbitration; class action lawsuits.

(a) It is an unlawful practice for any ticket seller, ticket issuer, or ticket marketplace, in a contract with a consumer in this State, to require that any legal dispute or claim relating to an event ticket purchase be resolved in a forum outside of this State. If a contract, including an online terms of service agreement, mandates arbitration, it shall allow the consumer the option to have an in-person arbitration hearing in the county of the consumer's residence or a neighboring county or a mutually agreed convenient location. The company shall pay any arbitration administrative fees or arbitrator fees beyond a nominal amount.

(b) It is an unlawful practice for any ticket purchase or resale contract to contain a term that waives or eliminates the consumer's right to file a claim in a small claims court in this State where jurisdiction is otherwise proper. If a contract includes an arbitration agreement, the consumer shall have the right to choose instead to bring an eligible claim in a small claims court in this State.

(c) If a ticket seller or issuer imposes an arbitration agreement as part of the purchase terms, the terms shall clearly permit the consumer to opt out of the arbitration clause within 30 days after the purchase or creating the account. The contract shall provide a straightforward method for opting out that does not result in any penalty or loss of ticket rights. It is an unlawful practice for a seller to refuse to honor a ticket or to punish a consumer in any way due to the consumer's exercise of the right to opt out of arbitration.

(d) It is an unlawful practice for any ticket-related contract of adhesion to include a waiver of the consumer's right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class arbitration against the ticket seller or related entities.

(e) The rights conferred to consumers by this Section cannot be waived. Any clause containing a waiver of a right conferred by this Section is void and unenforceable.

Section 60. Enforcement. A violation of this Act constitutes an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. All remedies, penalties, and authority granted to the Attorney General by the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act shall be available to the Attorney General for the enforcement of this Act.

Section 90. The State Finance Act is amended by adding Section 5.1038 as follows:

(30 ILCS 105/5.1038 new)

Sec. 5.1038. The Ticket Sale and Resale Security Fund.

(815 ILCS 414/Act rep.)

Section 95. The Ticket Sale and Resale Act is repealed.

Section 100. The Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act is amended by adding Section 2MMMM as follows:

(815 ILCS 505/2MMMM new)

Sec. 2MMMM. Violations of the Ticket Sale and Resale Act of 2026. Any person who violates the Ticket Sale and Resale Act of 2026 commits an unlawful practice within the meaning of this Act.

Section 997. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.

Section 999. Effective date. This Act takes effect on January 1, 2027.