OLYMPIA, Wash. — Two Massachusetts-based ticket buying companies, Find My Seats LLC and Box Office Pros LLC, will pay Washington state $60,000 for violating Washington's Ticket Sellers Act by using "ticket bot."
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently announced the two companies will pay Washington for using ticket bots to complete hundreds of transactions in which they bought tickets and then resold them for $30 to $200 more than the ticket's original sales price.
According to the attorney general's complaint, Find My Seats and Box Office Pros, used the ticket bot computer programs to quickly purchase large amounts of tickets online for concerts and sporting events. The software allows ticket scalpers to sidestep a website's security, which limits the number of tickets one person can buy. The program targets highly sought after seats and then allows scalpers to resell them just minutes later at high prices, according to the attorney general's office.
“When bots scoop up the good seats in a matter of minutes, they force actual customers to buy their tickets at inflated prices,” Ferguson said in a news release. “That’s not fair to consumers or the venues hosting them.”
According to the consent decree, in addition to the $60,000 fee, Find My Seats and Box Office Pros owner Taylor Kurth agreed to stop all actions that violate the state's Ticket Sellers Act. Kurth also agreed to stop any use of software which evades ticket-selling website's security measures in Washington.