Mich. Rethinking Ticket Resale

The state has had a law on the books since 1931 that prohibits selling tickets for more than face value unless permitted by the venue.

Rep. Tim Kelly is looking to repeal that law through House Bill 5108, currently under review by a criminal justice committee.

“An individual who buys a ticket to a sporting event or concert owns that ticket, and they should have every right to sell it if they so choose,” Kelly said. “This legislation, quite literally, is about allowing the man on the street to sell tickets at fair market value to willing buyers. It creates more fairness while providing some relief to our already overburdened court system.”

Scalping already occurs in the state through websites such as StubHub, which has contracts with sports teams allowing fans to resell their tickets at a markup.

Kelly says his legislation would even the playing field and is a “common-sense measure” that would allow the market to dictate the price of a ticket.

While a previous measure to ban automated bot programs and electronic tickets fell flat last year, Kelly has reportedly secured bipartisan support for his bill.