Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has joined a federal lawsuit targeting Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, over alleged ticket scalping practices. The lawsuit was filed in the Central District of California by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general from Tennessee, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Utah, and Virginia.
According to the complaint, Ticketmaster allegedly allowed ticket brokers to bypass purchasing limits on its website. These brokers reportedly used fake accounts and software tools to buy thousands of tickets beyond established limits while concealing their identities with proxy IP addresses. The lawsuit claims that Ticketmaster was aware of these actions and sometimes assisted the brokers. The tickets were then resold at much higher prices through Ticketmaster’s own resale platform. These actions are said to violate the federal Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act), which is intended to prevent such conduct.
The complaint also alleges that Ticketmaster violated the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act by misleading consumers about the enforcement of ticket limits.
“Tennessee wouldn’t be Tennessee without world-class live music from the mountains to the Mississippi. When consumers line up for a show, they should never have to compete with armies of scalpers scooping up hundreds of tickets at a time,” said Attorney General Skrmetti. “We’re fighting to level the playing field and get tickets back into the hands of real fans at fair prices.”
The coalition seeks an injunction against these practices as well as monetary relief for affected consumers.
