Massachusetts law about ticket reselling

Laws, cases, and web sources on ticket reselling law.

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Best bet

Ticket resellers, Mass. Division of Occupational Licensure.
Questions and answers for current and potential ticket resellers with a link to an application for a license.

Massachusetts laws

MGL c.140:

• § 185A Resale of tickets; necessity, term and transfer of license; information in application; definition of resale; restrictions
• § 185B License to resell tickets: fees
• § 185C Revocation or suspension of license
• § 185D Resale price
• § 185E Rules and regulations re: reselling of tickets
• § 185F Violation of statutes or regulations re: reselling of tickets
• § 185G Nonapplicability of statutes to tickets for entertainment of nonprofits

Selected cases

Commonwealth v. Santangelo, 25 Mass. App. Ct. 583 (1988)
"General Laws c.140 § 185D, which prohibits resale of tickets to public amusements at a price above that printed on the ticket, plus a permissible profit and a defined "service charge," did not permit a reseller, as part of the service charge, to recoup from a buyer the amount he paid for the ticket in excess of the printed price."

Commonwealth v. Sovrensky, 269 Mass. 460 (1929)
Desiring to sell and charging a price above the box office price constitutes the business of “reselling” tickets without a license, even if there is only a single sale of tickets.

Grossman v. Boston Red Sox Baseball Club Ltd. P'ship. (In re Platt), 292 B.R. 12 (2003)
The Massachusetts Anti-Scalping Statute, M.G.L. ch. 140, § 185A, did not apply to a bankruptcy trustee who wished to sell Red Sox season tickets because he was not "'engaged in the business of reselling tickets' within the meaning of the statute."

Herman v. Admit One Ticket Agency, 454 Mass. 611 (2009)
In order to establish standing, "a plaintiff must purchase a ticket to maintain a c. 93A claim premised on a violation of the policy embodied in [MGL c.140] § 185D."

Lainer v. City of Boston, 95 F.Supp.2d 17 (2000)
The court issued an injunction prohibiting Boston Police from " attempting to arrest, threatening to arrest, arresting, and prosecuting any person who attempts to resell or resells any ticket [Note: "ticket" is singular] to a Boston Red Sox baseball game in the vicinity of Fenway Park, at or below the face value of the ticket, unless they have probable cause, at the time of arrest, to believe that said person is a person engaged in the business of reselling tickets, and is not duly licensed as required by Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 185A."

NPS, LLC v. StubHub, Inc., 25 Mass.L.Rep. 478 (2009), 2009 Mass. Super. LEXIS 97, 2009 WL 995483
Patriots' lawsuit against StubHub for reselling Patriots' tickets online survived StubHub’s motion for summary judgment on the count alleging intentional interference with advantageous relations. In this "Memorandum of Decision and Order on Defendant’s Motion for Partial Judgment", Judge Gants wrote for the Superior Court, "It appears that, to be engaged in the business of reselling, one must, at the very least wish to sell more than one ticket for a profit, but it is not clear how many sales or prospective sales are needed to become so engaged." (Note: The parties ultimately settled out of court. See "Patriots, StubHub End Legal Battle", CommonWealth Beacon, July 14, 2009.)

Opinion of the Justices to the Senate, 247 Mass. 589 (1924)
An analysis of the purpose and limits of the ticket reselling law as it was first enacted.

Licensing

Office of Public Safety and Inspections
Division of Occupational Licensure
1000 Washington Street, Suite 710
Boston, MA 02118

Phone: [phone]
MassRelay (TTY & ASCII): 711

Web sources

File a complaint against a DOL licensee, Mass. Office of Public Safety and Inspections.
To file a complaint against a ticket reseller, choose “File a Complaint against an OPSI Licensee” and use the OPSI General Complaint Form 2020. The Division of Occupational Licensure may investigate the affairs of anyone licensed to resell tickets to determine compliance with the law.

"The law and economics of ticket scalping," 68 Wayne L. Rev. 345 (2023).
Not specific to Massachusetts. "Given the evolution of the secondary ticket market, a move towards less regulation may make sense to advance consumer interests and to better reflect the realities of sports teams’ operations in both the primary and secondary ticket marketplaces."

Ticket resellers FAQs, Mass. Office of Public Safety and Inspections.
Questions and answers for current and potential ticket resellers.

Print sources

"Consumer law – buy before you sue: Standing to sue for ticket scalping requires purchase – Herman v. Admit One Ticket Agency, LLC, 912 N.E.2D 450 (Mass. 2009)," 43 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 1031 (2010). | Request a free copy of this article through the law libraries' document delivery service.

Last updated:	October 1, 2024