Arizona’s Crackdown on Ticket Reselling: The “Taylor Swift Bill”

By: Braden Harrington

Arizona recently undertook a big move to protect consumers in the live event ticket market, and it might just be thanks to Taylor Swift.

In 2022, Taylor Swift launched tickets to her anticipated Eras Tour through Ticketmaster. However, many of these fans were left dumbfounded as they had to wait in lengthy queues, which—in some cases—stretched up to nine hours. This horrendous consumer experience was caused by automated bots that flooded Ticketmaster to purchase tickets in bulk on behalf of ticket resellers, who then resold them at steep markups.

The Bot Problem

Bots are software programs designed to impersonate human activity online. Ticket resellers use bots to purchase event tickets the moment they are released. Once these tickets are secured, the reseller then flips them on a secondary market at an inflated price. Thus, bots do work that would take thousands of people to replicate for ticket resellers. 

For fans, this creates a twofold problem: first, missing out on tickets sold at face value, and second, being forced to pay astronomical resale prices if they want to attend. In many cases, tickets priced originally at $150 may resell for $500, $1,000, or more.

The Eras Tour debacle brought national attention to an issue many fans, including those outside of Taylor Swift’s fanbase, have been affected by without necessarily realizing it. Bots have purchased event tickets for years on behalf of resale companies, enabling the resale companies to flip the tickets for incredible profits. In a recent lawsuit, the Federal Trade Commission provided evidence alleging Ticketmaster received $3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024, even as Ticketmaster claimed that they block over 200 million bots per day.

Phoenix has many entertainment venues generally ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 seats, and a select few hold significantly more than that. When the consumer must compete with 200 million bots for a ticket in one of these venues, they are severely outmanned, and they face an uphill battle to secure a ticket at face value. The bots can effectively force consumers to resale markets where they are subject to the increased prices and fees tacked on by those sites.  

Arizona’s Response

In 2024, Arizona lawmakers intervened. Frustrated with the growing imbalance between consumers and automated resale markets, the Legislature introduced two bills designed to target both the supply (bots) and the distribution channels (resellers). Both bills were passed and signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs.

A.R.S. § 44-7202

Dubbed as the “Taylor Swift Bill,” House Bill (“HB”) 2040 addressed the bots in Arizona. It was added as an amendment to Arizona Revised Statute (“A.R.S”) § 44-7202. HB 2040 made it unlawful for a person to create a bot to do any of the following:

1.        Purchase tickets in excess of the posted limit.

2.        Use multiple IP addresses, purchaser accounts, or email addresses to evade those limits.

3.        Circumvent electronic queues, waiting periods, presale codes, or other restrictions designed to regulate ticket distribution.

4.        Disable or bypass security measures intended to confirm ticket authenticity.

The law does not ban bots outright, which would seemingly be impossible. However, the law places bots on the same playing field as the consumer to remove the unfair advantage bots had. Now, the bots may not legally “skip the line” and flood ticketing systems to procure tickets for events that might limit legitimate buyers to four tickets. 

A.R.S. § 44-8031

HB 2194 takes aim at the resellers and resale companies. It creates a new chapter in A.R.S. § 44, appropriately titled “Ticket Resales.” The statute makes it unlawful for a reseller, a secondary ticket exchange, or any affiliate of a reseller or secondary ticket exchange to: 

1.        Resell more than one copy of the same ticket to an event.

2.        Resell a ticket without disclosing the specific seat location, or for general admission, the correct section or area.

3.        Resell a ticket without actually possessing it–unless the reseller has a written contract with the rights holder guaranteeing access to the ticket.

This law tackles some of the most harmful practices in the resale industry. One common scam involves selling duplicate tickets to multiple buyers, who then discover the fraud only when denied entry at the venue. Another involves listing tickets for sale before the reseller even has access to them, leading to last-minute cancellations or fraudulent transfers. By prohibiting these practices, Arizona effectively raises the standard for resale markets.

The Result

It remains unclear how these statutes will be enforced. However, the enactment of these two statutes gives Arizona consumers hope that they will recognize a cleaner process in securing tickets to an event, and if they are purchasing on a resale market, that their ticket is legitimate and will not leave them stranded at the gate.

For ticketing platforms, it would be advisable to invest in sophisticated bot-blocking technology and software. If not, they could be subject to penalties and fines under Arizona law.

For resellers, the days of exploiting the consumer are limited, and as a result, the lucrative profits they have been enjoying are likely to diminish. Or they too, like the ticketing platforms, will be subject to punishment under Arizona law.  

Conclusion

All in all, the passage of A.R.S. § 44-7202 and A.R.S. § 44-8031 are a step in the right direction, and they will hopefully provide the protection consumers deserve. Further, Arizona sets an example for the rest of the states, and maybe even the federal government, to follow in protecting eventgoers.