HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3603        FILED ON: 1/15/2009

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3801

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to the purchasing and sales of event tickets..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 140 Section 185A is hereby amended by placing at the end thereof the following:--

(a) Any person, ticket broker, or affiliated group of ticket brokers shall be prohibited from using an automated device to impede, block, or move ahead of another person seeking to purchase tickets to an event held in the state for the purposes of reselling the tickets to an event.    Any person, ticket broker, or affiliated group of ticket brokers shall be prohibited from acquiring in excess of one percent of the total tickets allocated for any contest or event within a 24-hour period.  Whoever intentionally uses an automated device for this purpose or acquires in excess of one percent of the tickets in a 24-hour period shall be subject to a revocation of its license for a period of not less than one year and a fine of not less than $2,000. 

(b) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:-

“Event” means a theater performance or show, circus, concert, athletic contest, or any other entertainment or amusement to which the general public is admitted. 

“Automated device” means a device that after initial human initialization or setup generates automated requests for tickets without further human interface.  The definition includes, but is not limited to, computer software applications.