Congress mandates ticket-price honesty: no hidden fees, no phantom tickets.
H.R. 1402 — TICKET Act · Filed by Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 18, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The TICKET Act requires ticket sellers—primary issuers, resellers, and secondary marketplaces—to disclose the full ticket price upfront in all advertising and at checkout, ban the sale of tickets they don't actually possess ('speculative ticketing'), prohibit false claims of official affiliation with venues or artists, and guarantee refunds if events are canceled or postponed beyond six months. The FTC enforces these rules as consumer-protection violations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a consumer-protection statute that mandates price transparency, bans deceptive practices (speculative ticketing, false affiliation claims), and guarantees refunds. It is straightforward regulatory enforcement delegated to the FTC.
What the text implies
- The 180-day implementation window gives ticket sellers time to reprogram systems but may create a brief period of non-compliance or workarounds before enforcement begins.
- The 'cause beyond reasonable control' exception for event cancellations (natural disaster, civil disturbance) is undefined and may generate disputes over what qualifies, potentially limiting refund obligations in edge cases.
- Secondary market platforms (StubHub, SeatGeek, Ticketmaster resale) face the largest operational burden, as they must verify actual possession of every ticket listed and maintain clear separation between ticket sales and 'service to obtain' offerings.
- The ban on speculative ticketing may reduce liquidity in secondary markets if resellers cannot list tickets before they acquire them, potentially raising prices for consumers seeking last-minute tickets.
- The FTC's enforcement capacity and track record on BOTS Act (2016) enforcement is unknown; the bill requires a report but does not fund additional FTC resources.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Consumers gain mandatory upfront price disclosure (eliminating surprise fees at checkout), protection against speculative ticketing (which can inflate prices and create phantom inventory), and clearer refund rights when events are canceled or postponed. These are direct protections against deceptive practices that have long plagued the ticketing market.
Named in the bill
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Ticket issuers (primary sellers), Secondary market ticket issuers (resellers), Secondary market ticket exchanges (platforms: StubHub, SeatGeek, Ticketmaster resale, etc.), Venues, Artists / performers, Sports teams, Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 (BOTS Act)
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Feb 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 18, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Apr 8, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Apr 8, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
- Apr 28, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Bilirakis moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Apr 29, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 409 - 15…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
11 lobbying clients named this bill on 20 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $5,940,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 92% of bills with at least one filing.
Gus Bilirakis, the sponsor, reported $937,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
- Landry's — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Seatgeek — $120,000 on 2 filings
- Stubhub — $100,000 on 2 filings
- Recording Academy — $80,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (9,812 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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