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California Targets Ticket Resale Scams
A proposed California legislation, California lawmakers are currently considering two major ticket-resale bills, and the one most directly aimed at resale scams and deceptive ticket listings is Assembly Bill 1349 (AB 1349). A second proposal, AB 1720, goes further by addressing how much some resellers can mark up tickets. Both are still moving through the Legislature as of August 2026—they are not yet California law.
AB 1349 — cracking down on ticket resale scams
AB 1349, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, is designed to strengthen California’s rules governing original ticket sellers, resellers and resale marketplaces. One of its most important provisions targets “speculative ticketing”—when someone advertises or sells a ticket that they don’t actually possess or have the contractual right to sell.
Under the proposal, California would:
- Ban speculative ticket sales. A reseller generally couldn’t advertise or sell a ticket unless they actually or constructively possess it, or have a contractual right to sell it.
- Target fake or misleading ticket websites. Resellers would be prohibited from creating websites that look substantially similar to an official venue, event presenter or authorized ticket seller’s website without permission.
- Fight ticket-buying manipulation. The bill would prohibit intentionally purchasing tickets beyond posted limits and circumventing systems designed to enforce ticket-purchase limits.
- Require better seat information. Resellers and resale marketplaces would have to disclose where in the venue the ticket allows the customer to sit or stand.
- Strengthen enforcement. Certain violations could carry civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, and California’s Attorney General, district attorneys, city attorneys and other specified prosecutors could bring enforcement actions.
That last point could become significant for large-scale ticket operations because the legislation specifies that individual tickets sold or offered in violation of the rules can constitute separate violations.
AB 1720 — targeting huge resale markups
A separate bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney, AB 1720, takes aim at another major consumer complaint: tickets being purchased and immediately relisted for dramatically higher prices. The current proposal would impose a 10% resale markup cap for certain tickets, meaning a qualifying ticket originally sold for $100 generally couldn’t be resold for more than $110.
The proposed cap isn’t universal. Reporting on the current version says it focuses on tickets for smaller venues and would not apply to sporting events or venues/festivals holding more than 3,000 people.
Why this matters for California consumers
The broader goal is to stop the familiar situation where a popular concert goes on sale, tickets disappear almost immediately, and then appear on resale sites at dramatically inflated prices—or consumers discover they’re purchasing a ticket that the seller doesn’t actually have.
AB 1349 attacks the fraud/deception side of that problem, while AB 1720 attacks extreme resale pricing. The proposals could therefore change how platforms and resellers operate for concerts and other live entertainment in California.
There is opposition, particularly around price caps. Critics argue that strict caps could push transactions away from established resale marketplaces and into less-regulated social-media or person-to-person sales, potentially making fraud harder rather than easier to police. California lawmakers have also raised fiscal and implementation concerns about AB 1720.
