DC eyes 10% Ticket Resale Cap and Spec Ban

Washington DC Council member Charles Allen backed by a coalition of local venues, artists, and national independent music organizations has announced strong legislation targeting secondary ticketing platforms like StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, Ticket Center and SeatGeek.

DC eyes 10% Ticket Resale Cap, Spec Ban

The proposed DC bill puts a price cap of 10% above face value on all live event resale tickets and requires anyone selling more than 50 tickets a year to register with the District. A 10% resale cap is under serious consideration in the UK, but this marks the first time that similar restrictions have a serious chance of becoming law in the U.S.

The speculative ticket ban will mean that only people who already have a ticket can resell it. Violators would be fined as much as $10,000 per ticket. 

In a recent example of speculative ticketing, tickets for Sparks’ show at Lincoln Theatre have not yet been released to the public, but are listed on StubHub, Vivid Seats, Ticket Center and TicketNetwork for as much as $767 at the time of writing. Tickets will be available from the Lincoln Theatre for $55. Strong Coalition of Support

Strong Coalition in Support

The coalition backing the bill is led by local promoter and venue owner I.M.P. along with 30 local venues and music industry organizations, including the National Independent Venues Association (NIVA), Future of Music Coalition, National Independent Talent Organization (NITO), The Recording Academy, Bandsintown, the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP). and the Office of the DC Attorney General.

“We want fans to be able to buy real tickets at the price the artists set, not get deceived and fleeced by scalpers,” said Audrey Fix Schaefer, Director of Communications for I.M.P. “The RESALE Act, when signed into law, will protect consumers from price gouging, allowing them to go to more shows, which is good for the artists, our venues, and the city.”

“A $40 ticket could end up reselling for over $1,000,” said Councilmember Allen who introduced the legislation. “The result is fewer fans can afford to see their favorite artist at one of the amazing venues DC has to offer. These middlemen are making millions by driving up prices, with the profit exclusively going to the scalper and never to the artists or venue. They aren’t performing, they aren’t running a venue – they’re just making it all more expensive.” 

Details of The Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Amendment Act of 2025 

This legislation aims to protect artists, venues, and consumers in the District from unfair and deceptive practices in live event ticket purchases by:

• Capping the price of tickets resold to the total price of the initial ticket plus up to 10%;
• Clarifying the existing Consumer Protection Procedures Act with language specifying that ticket issuers, resellers, and secondary ticket exchanges must clearly and conspicuously disclose certain information upfront regarding ticket pricing;
• Banning the sale of speculative tickets;
• Ensuring the listing for a ticket and each step of a transaction shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the total price of the ticket, including an itemized listing of all charges, fees, and taxes;
• Prescribing procedures governing the provision of refunds to consumers; 
• Prohibiting a ticket issuer from restricting the transferability of a ticket unless the terms and conditions on transferability are clearly disclosed to the consumer prior to purchase;
• Permitting ticket issuers to maintain and enforce policies and conditions or requirements for ticket purchase with respect to conduct, behavior, public health and safety, or age at the venue or event, and establishing limits on the number of tickets that can be purchased;
• Requiring a ticket issuer or secondary ticket exchange to maintain reasonable technology to prevent any machine, device, computer program, or computer software, with or without human assistance, from bypassing security measures or access control systems designed to limit the number of tickets that can be purchased by a person on a marketplace for initial purchase or secondary ticket exchange;
• Requiring a reseller that sells or offers to sell 50 or more tickets per year to register annually with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and requiring that registered resellers provide certain information to the Department and maintain a surety bond of no less than $10,000;
• Imposing responsibilities on secondary ticket exchanges to ensure fair practices on the secondary market;
• Requiring the Mayor to issue rules to implement provisions governing the registration of resellers; and
• Providing for civil penalties of $5,000 per ticket for the first violation and $10,000 per ticket for the second and subsequent violations.

Bruce Houghton