Ticket bots could face six-figure fines in New Jersey

In New Jersey, a ticket seller would no longer be able to shrug off a violation as a paper-thin regulatory issue. Under the Ticket Fairness and Transparency Act, breaking the rules would count as an unlawful practice under the state’s consumer fraud act, giving enforcement a sharper edge and making each misstep easier to punish.

The bill also treats every offending ticket sale, public listing, advertisement or transfer as a separate offense. For an individual, that could mean up to $1,000 per ticket on a first offense. For a business, the first-offense penalty could reach $25,000.

When the same violation keeps adding up

The penalties climb quickly after that. Individuals could face up to $2,500 per ticket on a second offense and $5,000 for later ones. Businesses would face up to $50,000 on a second offense and $100,000 on later violations.

A court could also authorize an additional $250,000 per occurrence if the conduct is deemed egregious. That matters because the bill is designed to make large-scale ticket abuse expensive enough that the fine is not just folded into the cost of doing business.

Bots get their own penalty track

The bill goes further when automated buying software, or ticket bots, is involved. If a bot causes the violation, individuals could face penalties up to $10,000 and businesses up to $100,000. Repeat violators could be barred from selling or reselling tickets in New Jersey.

The Attorney General and the State Comptroller would get investigative authority, and the Division of Consumer Affairs would have to publish enforcement and broker-registration data online. That public paper trail is meant to make it harder for violations to disappear into the market’s noise.