Ban on bot ticket reselling to lower concert ticket prices
S. 5278 — GHOST Act · Filed by Ben Luján (D-NM) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 6, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill stops ticket resellers from selling tickets they do not own. It bans bots from buying up tickets to resell at higher prices. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general can fine rule-breakers. Fines go up to $15,000 per day or five times the ticket price. The bill sets up a website for people to report violations. It requires yearly reports to Congress.
Who it affects
People who buy concert and event tickets benefit from lower prices. Ticket resellers who own tickets they sell can still operate. Platforms that sell tickets must follow the new rules.
One thing to notice
The law takes effect in 60 days, which is fast. Resellers and ticket platforms may struggle to follow the rules during that time.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Aug 6, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Aug 6, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- resellers — People or companies that buy tickets and sell them again to others.
- bots — Computer programs that buy tickets automatically and very fast.
- Federal Trade Commission — The FTC, a federal agency that stops unfair business practices.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (6,141 characters) on Sep 27, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 15,316 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-27.
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