The provincial government has enacted legislation to better protect Albertans buying tickets for live events from ticket bots.
In a release, the government said that the, “ban on bots will protect consumers by improving access to tickets from legitimate sellers, minimizing the need to turn to inflated resale prices.”
The province defined a bot as any computer software that is programmed to quickly purchase large quantities of tickets from primary ticket sellers before actual people have the opportunity to purchase tickets.
The practice of using bots often leads to limited availability of tickets as well as inflated ticket prices on resale sites.
The inflated prices also increase the risk of fraudulent ticket scams.
“We’ve heard, over and over again, that game and concert tickets sell out very quickly and Albertans aren’t able to see their favourite team or band. When tickets are scarce, consumers are forced to pay sky-high prices or they are scammed by questionable resellers. Our government believes Albertans deserve better. These new rules will ensure they have a better shot at getting the tickets they want,” said Minister of Service Alberta Brian Malkinson.
Under the new legislation, online ticket sellers are being required to, “use reasonable diligence in detecting bots and cancelling tickets purchased by bots.”
To ensure compliance with the ban, the Service Alberta Consumer Investigations Unit has worked with the industry and will partner with them to investigative the use of bots.
