New bill could make buying tickets more transparent, but won’t stop scalpers

DENVER, Colo. (KKCO) - Fine print in ticketing services is what adds to the cost of your tickets to a Colorado Avalanche game or a concert at Red Rocks.

Said fine print allows for a service fee or ticketing charge to be added to your bill, inflating the cost to the consumer.

Representatives in the Colorado legislature are working on a bill on the topic. However, the bill won’t remove the fees, just make them more obvious. The legislation is not addressing an issue that some of the biggest names in music are warning their fans about.

Democratic State Representative Mandy Lindsay is a co-sponsor of a bill that deals with bots snapping up tickets, called “Consumer Protection in Event Ticketing Sales.”

The bill would require added fees to be shown up front, but it does not prevent people from selling tickets at a higher price than face value.

“I think a lot of people are surprised that this actually doesn’t exist in other states, including myself, as I’m delving into all this ticketing world,” said Rep. Lindsay.

Ball Arena will play host for several big names over the next few months, including John Mayer, Blink 182, Queen, and Madonna.

Tickets for those shows go on sale soon, but with a warning from the artists.

“Unfortunately, the states of New York, Illinois, and Colorado have laws in place which protect ticket scalpers - these laws prohibit artists from being able to restrict the transfer of their tickets to face value exchanges only,” the warning says.

Copyright 2023 KKCO. All rights reserved.