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Bill

S 196

Relates to the public safety surcharge

2025 Regular Session Introduced by George Borrello and 7 co-sponsors

The bill bans automated apps that purchase event tickets to circumvent rules and requires ticket issuers to implement and regularly tighten security controls to enforce purchase li

REPORTED AND COMMITTED TO FINANCE
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WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · S 196

Summary — S.196: Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for Event Ticketing Act (MAIN Event Ticketing Act)

Short title: Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for Event Ticketing Act or the MAIN Event Ticketing Act. Amends Section 2 of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016 (15 U.S.C. 45c).

Purpose

To strengthen the BOTS Act by (1) explicitly prohibiting use of applications (including software apps) that automate ticket purchases and circumvent online ticketing controls, and (2) requiring online ticket issuers to implement, maintain, evaluate, and improve technical and organizational security measures to enforce posted purchasing limits and ordering rules — thereby reducing bot-driven hoarding and protecting consumers.

Key provisions

  • Prohibition expansion: makes it unlawful to use or cause the use of an application that automates tasks to buy event tickets in circumvention of posted online ticket purchasing order rules, including applications that bypass access control systems or other technological controls.
  • Mandatory site security and controls: requires each ticket issuer that operates an online ticketing website/service to have access control systems, security measures, or other technological controls to enforce posted ticket-purchasing limits and order rules.
  • Safeguards and third-party oversight: ticket issuers must establish reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, consider size/scope/sensitivity/risk, and require/oversight contractual safeguards for third-party service providers.
  • Ongoing evaluation: issuers must regularly evaluate and adjust safeguards in light of material changes in technology, threats, or business operations.
  • Incident reporting: issuers must report incidents of circumvention they actually know about to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) within a reasonable time and no later than 30 days after discovery.
  • FTC consumer portal and reporting tools: FTC required to create/modify a public consumer-complaint website within 180 days and may enable automated incident submissions.
  • Enforcement coordination: requires data sharing and coordination among the FTC, DOJ, FBI, and appropriate state or local law enforcement regarding cyberattacks or known circumvention incidents.
  • Remediation duty: ticket issuers must take reasonable steps to remediate known or reasonably foreseeable risks revealed by circumvention incidents.

Who is affected

  • Primary: online ticket issuers/platforms (e.g., primary ticketing websites/services) and their third‑party service providers.
  • Secondary: consumers (benefit from reduced bot interference), bot operators and resellers (subject to prohibition and enforcement).
  • Regulators: FTC (primary enforcement and guidance role), DOJ/FBI, state attorneys general.

Enforcement & compliance

  • FTC is charged with enforcement and issuing guidance to help ticket issuers comply.
  • Reporting and coordination requirements create new compliance and monitoring obligations for ticket sellers.
  • The bill does not, in the text provided, lay out specific civil penalty formulae beyond FTC enforcement authorities under existing law.

Legislative status / timeline (selected)

  • Introduced in Senate: Jan 22, 2025 (sponsors: Sen. Blackburn, Sen. Luján).
  • Committee actions: Referred to Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation; ordered reported with amendment Apr 30, 2025; committee report (S. Rept. 119‑57) filed Sept 2, 2025. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar No. 144 on Sept 2, 2025. Reported and committed to Finance (reported and referred to other committees per calendar entries). Companion House bill: H.R. 2713.

Potential impacts / considerations

  • Likely to increase security investment and operational compliance costs for ticketing platforms and their vendors.
  • Aims to reduce automated purchase advantages, improving consumer access to primary-market tickets and potentially reducing secondary-market markups driven by bot-enabled stockpiling.
  • Enforcement effectiveness will depend on FTC guidance, resource allocation, and coordination with criminal law enforcement for sophisticated circumvention/cyberattack cases.

Note: packet materials included unrelated state-level items (e.g., New Jersey chiropractic preceptorship provisions and a Massachusetts appraisal bill). This summary focuses on the federal S.196 MAIN Event Ticketing Act.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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