Toronto stubhub tickets

Stubhub complains after Ontario officially bans ticket bots

If you've ever been floored by how quickly marquee concert tickets seem to sell out and what they end up costing on resale sites, the Ontario government now has your back. But today's passing of the Ticket Sales Act has online ticket retailer Stubhub seeing red.

The legislation is good news for event-goers who have been slighted by ticket re-sellers setting astronomically high prices, as it seeks to regulate online ticket sales and ensure they can be purchased at a fair value.

Stubhub, however, feels differently.

The company issued an open letter saying that while it supports the driving idea behind the new legislation, it's not happy with the price caps that will now be imposed on resell tickets.

"When it comes to price caps, StubHub joins the industry in opposing this measure," reads the release.

"Consumers benefit from a competitive ticket market where transactions occur through secure channels that prioritize fans. At the same time, it is important to incentivize and encourage this e-commerce to remain right here, in Ontario."

The regulations cap the sometimes outrageous ticket prices listed by re-sellers who use the platform by ensuring that they aren't sold for more than 50 per cent above face value.

Stubhub's opposing argument goes like this. "If the established market rate exceeds the 50% cap established by government, those sales won't stop or adapt to reflect the price caps – they'll just occur at their true value through channels the government cannot regulate."

In addition to price caps, the new rules also ban tickets from being purchased automatically by bots and potentially scalped later on. Instead purchases must be made manually with key information provided by the buyer.

Earlier this year, the government initiated a public survey to generate feedback on ticket-purchasing experiences and factors like access, affordability, transparency, and enforcement surrounding online ticket sales.

Stubhub also criticizes the new regulations for not ensuring enough transparency in terms how many tickets are made available to the general public for large scale events, but if social media reaction is any indication, people aren't buying the company's take right now.

Lead photo by

Jesse Milns


Latest Videos



Latest Videos


Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Music

Third incident brings police to Drake's Toronto mansion yet again

Police respond to second incident at Drake's Toronto mansion in two days

Ticketmaster crashes for Canadians during Live Nation $25 concert sale

Drake's security guard shot in front of Toronto mansion amid escalating rap beef

Toronto police investigating shooting near Drake's mansion

Here are all the Toronto mentions and strays so far in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud

Toronto newspaper blasted for using very wrong photo in Kendrick Lamar story

Toronto Chinese restaurant showered with 5-star reviews after Kendrick Lamar mention