Overview

• The FTC filed the lawsuit in federal court in California, joined by seven states including Florida, Illinois and Virginia.
• Regulators allege the companies tacitly worked with brokers who exceeded ticket limits, used bait‑and‑switch pricing, violated the BOTS Act, and “triple dipped” on fees, with $3.7 billion in tickets resold from 2019 to 2024.
• A related filing by Utah with the FTC alleges hidden checkout fees of 24% to 44% and claims buyers paid $16.4 billion in fees over five years ending in 2024.
• The FTC says Ticketmaster controls roughly 80% of major venue ticketing and that consumers spent more than $82 billion on the platform between 2019 and 2024.
• The agencies seek civil penalties and monetary relief for consumers as the DOJ’s separate antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster continues.