Bill makes ticket websites stop bots and report attacks faster
H.R. 2713 — MAIN Event Ticketing Act · Filed by Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Apr 8, 2025 · Markup held
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What it does
The bill updates a 2016 law that banned illegal ticket-buying bots. It expands what counts as an illegal bot. Now it includes software that gets around security or purchase limits. Ticket websites must add security safeguards. They must report bot attacks to the FTC within 30 days. The FTC can fine companies $10,000 or more per day for breaking rules. The FTC must create a website for people to report problems. The FTC must publish guidance within one year.
Who it affects
Consumers benefit because scalpers will have a harder time using bots. Bots are used to buy up all the tickets. Ticket-selling websites must spend money to add security. The bill does not take away any rights people have. People can still buy tickets and sue for problems.
One thing to notice
Ticket websites must report bot attacks within 30 days. This is a new requirement that could cost them money.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Apr 8, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 8, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
- Sep 1, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 7 reports from Dec 2025 to Jun 2026.
Those reports show $260,000 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 4 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.
More groups named this bill than 72% of bills with any report.
Diana Harshbarger, who sponsored the bill, received $700,520 from PACs for the 2026 election.
- Seatgeek — $120,000 in 2 reports
- Anschutz Entertainment Group Inc. — $70,000 in 2 reports
- Fix the Tix Coalition — $40,000 in 2 reports
- National Independent Venue Association — $30,000 in 1 report
Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.
Words to know
- bots — Computer programs that buy tickets automatically without a real person
- FTC — Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that stops unfair business
- security safeguards — Tools and rules that protect a website from illegal software
- scalpers — People who buy tickets in bulk and resell them higher
- lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
- PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (10,699 characters) on Sep 5, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,206 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 2026-09-17.
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