Fixing Ticketing requires more than just an Executive Order
The White House’s new executive order is aimed at fixing ticketing with a track down on scalping. While the intent is correct, True Ticket CEO Matt Zarracina argues that without enforceable tech solutions, we’re fighting today’s ticketing chaos with outdated tools and empty promises.
Fixing Ticketing Requires More Than an Executive Order
Op-ed by Matt Zarracina co-founder and CEO of True Tickets
A new executive order. More statements and performative politics from lawmakers and celebrities about fixing live event ticketing. And yet, for millions of fans, nothing changes.
The White House’s Executive Order on Combating Unfair Practices in the Live Entertainment Market is a commendable step toward addressing deceptive fees, predatory resale, and fraud. But without enforcement, it’s just words on paper.
As we are all aware, unauthorized ticket resale isn’t a new problem—it’s just one that’s evolved faster than our ability to stop it.
In 1842, Charles Dickens’ reading tour in the U.S. was the Taylor Swift Eras’ tour of its time. Shady “sidewalk men” paid bystanders to wait in lines nearly a mile long to buy tickets for around $2 and then resell them for as much as $50—a staggering markup at the time. Back then, ticket scalping was a challenging, but local problem, confined to street-corner hustlers outside theaters.
Today, it’s supercharged.
With the advent of the internet and the deregulation of ticket reselling in the early 2000s, what was once a sidewalk problem has become a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Bots buy up tickets in seconds, resale platforms allow speculative listing of tickets that don’t even exist, and fans are forced to navigate an intentionally murky system where prices surge beyond reason.
Just look at the numbers:
- Ticket resale was cited as the primary driver of increased live event attendance cost with a NITO study** highlighting an average resale cost of $129.22 compared to an average face value price of $67.47.
- The same study also reported instances of GA tickets to a sold-out event skyrocketing to 10x of face value in minutes thanks to automated resale tactics.
- Speculative ticketing scams are rampant as are spoof websites, all aimed at defrauding actual fans and patrons.
Legislation alone won’t fix this. Technology can.
In 2016, Congress passed the BOTS Act to curb automated ticket scalping. In theory, it made using ticket bots illegal. In practice? The law is rarely enforced, and scalpers are more sophisticated than ever—they now use bots to do everything but what the law doesn’t allow. The Eras Tour debacle, the Springsteen pricing outrage—these aren’t outliers. They are the direct result of a system where venues, artists, and consumers have no real control over what happens to tickets once they’re sold.
As problems evolve, so should the way we attempt to solve them. This is where enforceable technology comes in. At True Tickets, the company I lead, we’ve already delivered over 16 million tickets with a face value exceeding $1 billion for 82 organizations across 4 countries, using technology that provide a custody solution that ensures accountability in ticketing.
We focus on two things:
- Identity – Who actually holds the ticket?
- Accountability – Are they adhering to the ticket’s terms & conditions?
By linking tickets to verified identities and allowing event organizers to set real, enforceable rules, this approach gives teeth to ticketing policies that have otherwise failed to protect consumers.
Without these mechanisms, executive orders and congressional hearings will continue to be reactive, rather than solving the root problem. We don’t need more laws that can’t be enforced. We need systems that make enforcement possible in the first place.
The White House has laid out the right objectives, but if policymakers are serious about fixing ticketing, they need to move beyond unenforceable regulation and adopt technology that makes fairness a reality. The tools exist. It’s time to use them.
Matt Zarracina is the co-founder and CEO of True Tickets. Previously, he served as Director of Innovation at Thales Group, a Senior Manager at Deloitte Consulting, and an officer and helicopter pilot in the United States Navy.
** Predatory ticket resellers cost artists, confused fans millions, NITO study shows
