S 196
Advanced toward a vote
Expands the federal ban on ticket-buying bots by covering circumvention of online ticket sellers' purchase limits, and requires online ticket sellers to maintain anti-circumvention controls, report circumvention within 30 days, and improve those controls.
Official title: MAIN Event Ticketing Act
Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions
Senate
Introduced
22-JAN-2025
Referred
22-JAN-2025
Approved by committee
30-APR-2025
Reported
02-SEP-2025
On the calendar
02-SEP-2025
- Adds to the BOTS Act a prohibition on using automated applications to buy event tickets by circumventing a site's access controls or posted purchasing order rules.
- Requires online ticket issuers to maintain access control systems to enforce purchase limits and to report known circumvention incidents to the Federal Trade Commission within 30 days.
- Directs the FTC to publish compliance guidance within one year and limits the effect of that guidance in enforcement actions, which must allege a specific violation of the Act.
- Directs the FBI and Department of Justice to coordinate with the FTC on known cyberattacks against ticket sellers' security measures, and requires an FTC report to Congress on enforcement.
Covers an older version. The newest CRS summary describes the bill as of "Introduced in Senate" (22-JAN-2025); the text has changed since (Reported to Senate, 02-SEP-2025).
CRS is the Library of Congress's nonpartisan research office. Read it on congress.govCommerce
■ 1 D
1 Democrat