What the Oklahoma Fraud and Ticketing Accountability Act Does

The Oklahoma Fraud and Ticketing Accountability Act provides a budget-neutral framework to restore fairness and transparency in ticketing while preserving venue and artist rights:

  • Sellers and resellers must disclose the full, itemized price at the time of listing and again before final purchase, along with seat location and basic seller identity information.

  • Bars the use or sale of bots to purchase tickets, bypass purchase limits, or circumvent queues, presale codes, and other access controls.

  • Resale platforms must require sellers to certify that they actually possess the tickets they’re listing and didn’t obtain them by bot, and must remove speculative or bot-acquired listings within 24 hours, maintain a public complaint mechanism, and report bad actors to the Attorney General.

  • Resellers may only sell tickets they actually own. Duplicate ticket sales are banned.

  • Tickets may not be resold before they’re offered for initial public sale.

  • Venues can limit transferability, enforce conduct policies, and manage purchase limits.

  • Secondary sales are capped at 120% of the original ticket’s total price to prevent predatory markups, with exemptions for large venues (over 7,000-seat capacity) and nonprofit fundraising events.

  • Full refunds are required for canceled events, counterfeit or invalid tickets, tickets that don’t match their description, or tickets never delivered.

  • Misrepresentation of affiliation, unauthorized use of artist or venue branding, and misleading commercial representations are all prohibited.

  • Violations are treated as unfair or deceptive trade practices under the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act, and any aggrieved Oklahoman may bring a civil action.

  • Sports events are excluded.

This legislation protects Oklahomans from bots, foreign bad actors, and sellers who never owned what they sold in the first place. It protects Oklahoma venues from having to do damage-control and reputation management around harm they did not cause, and levels the playing field for fans who genuinely need to offload a ticket for a show they can no longer attend vs. predatory resellers looking to cash in.

  • Garth Brooks recently announced that every ticket to his 2026 tour will cost the same price: a direct response to the same scalping and bot-driven markups OFTA targets:

    “I’ve never understood why scalping is legal. I don’t think I am making it too simple by saying if we just make scalping illegal, a bunch of the problems of today’s ticketing procedures would be gone.” — Garth Brooks

    “I’ve always wanted to go to the ‘powers that be’ and tell them I would be happy to do a tour without scalping if they want to see if we all miss it or not.”— Garth Brooks

    “There are always going to be people who say, ‘I’d love to come see you, I can’t afford it.’ Those people have all of my respect. I believe it is my job to try to make the number of people who say that as small as possible.” — Garth Brooks

    Source: Holler Country, “Garth Brooks Explains Why All His 2026 Tickets Will Cost the Same”

  • "It just makes sense to protect consumers and to promote local artists, it’s a matter of integrity."

    - Ellen

    Bethany, Oklahoma

  • Noah Kahan testified before the Vermont Senate in support of the bill that became that state’s ticket-resale price cap law, calling the bill “a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors”:

    “As an artist, I care very deeply about the fan experience and accessibility of concert tickets.”

    — Noah Kahan

    Source: The Boston Globe, “With an assist from Noah Kahan, Vermont cracks down on ticket scalpers”

  • "Ticketing accountability matters because access to the arts shouldn’t depend on bots, hidden fees, or price manipulation. Transparent pricing and real consumer protections keep events accessible for families, support artists, and ensure that live experiences serve the communities they’re meant to bring together. "

    — Michael

    Norman, Oklahoma

  • Kid Rock testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee in January 2026, calling for exactly the kind of resale price caps and bot crackdowns OFTA enacts:

    “It’s no secret this industry is full of greedy snakes and scoundrels. Too many suits lining their pockets off talent they never had and fans they mislead.”

    — Kid Rock

    “That experiment has failed miserably. Independent venues have been crushed. Artists have lost leverage. Fans are paying more than ever, and getting blamed for it.”

    — Kid Rock

    Source: NME, “Kid Rock tells Congress that Live Nation-Ticketmaster ‘experiment has failed miserably’”

  • "When you buy a ticket you should know that it's valid, you have the seat you paid for, and that you're not being overcharged. "

    — Brent

    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

  • “My patrons are important and shouldn’t have to endure unscrupulous practices of select individuals and companies.”

    — Chris Greening

    Goddard Center for the Performing Arts, Ardmore

  • “Access to live experiences shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for the fastest bots or the deepest pockets.”

    — Michael Raiber

    Director of Fine Arts, Mustang Public Schools

  • “Our organizations and venues work hard to provide high-quality performances. It undercuts our work when we are unable to protect the local artists, audiences and venues associated with these events.”

    — Karen Paul

    Board Member, Norman Music Festival

  • "I'm going through this right now. I paid $800.00 for 2 tickets that had a face value of $99.50 each. I'm sure I've been scammed on 2 [other] tickets I paid about $1400.00 for. I'm sick of being ripped off."

    — Joy

    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

  • "There are too many opportunities for fraud, duplication, unreasonable fees. Buying a ticket shouldn't cause anxiety!"

    — Lyn

    Moore, Oklahoma

  • "Organizations and venues work hard to provide high-quality performances. It undercuts our work when we are unable to protect the local artists, audiences and venues associated with these events.

    — Karen

    Norman, Oklahoma

  • "Arts and entertainment should benefit all constituents equally. Artist, venues, and arts organizations have a right to share their creations at a fair price. Scalpers turn a benefit to society into an economic scheme with few people benefitting."

    — Chloe

    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

  • “Everyone deserves to experience the arts.”

    — Lori Decter Wright

    General Director & CEO, Tulsa Opera

  • “It’s so easy for someone with ill intent to scam someone with good intentions. I lost money trying to take my cousin to see Pink for her birthday. Oklahomans are very trusting. We need these bad actors taken care of."

    — Kelli Duncan

    Edmond

  • “Access to the arts shouldn’t depend on bots, hidden fees, or price manipulation. Transparent pricing and real consumer protections keep events accessible for families.”

    — Kym Koch Thompson

    Oklahoma City

  • “Ticket prices should be fair, transparent, and set one time for each seat. These bait and switch tactics must be stopped or significantly curtailed.”

    — Douglas Sorocco

    Oklahoma City

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  • Bipartisan Legislators Say Ticket Bots Are Pricing Fans Out

    This National Conference of State Legislators Article shows that there is strong support for consumer protections on both sides of the aisle. Both legislators framed their proposals not as an attempt to control markets wholesale, but as a response to conduct they say distorts those markets and misleads the public.

    Mark Hiner, Ohio (R) has concerns for consumers, saying bots create “an artificial competition that a consumer just can’t win.” Because automated systems can buy tickets in bulk at high speed, he says, “an individual buyer just cannot get in and compete.”

    Read More

  • Read KFOR's Article About the Oklahoma Fraud and Ticketing Accountability Act

    Bill in OK Legislature seeks to help with online ticket bot problem

    A push to protect those who love attending live entertainment is making its way to the Senate floor at the state capitol. The bill aims to prevent online ticket gouging, the use of bots to buy mass quantities of tickets, and reselling them at inflated prices.

    Read More

  • How to Save Audiences $11 Billion on Live Events

    Live events are a central part of America’s common culture and should be available to every American at affordable prices. Unfortunately, prices for events are increasingly becoming unaffordable due to middlemen who contribute nothing to the actual production of events.

    This paper proposes that policymakers solve these two problems with (1) a simple bright-line ban on reselling tickets above face value and (2) a 10-percent cap on processing fees charged by the online ticketing platforms.

    Read More

  • Independent venues urge US attorneys general to crack down on fake artist websites run by ticket touts

    US venue organization NIVA has found thousands of misleading websites and URLS which are used by touts to trick consumers into thinking they are buying tickets from official sellers rather than unofficial resellers.

    Read More

  • How COVID Changed Small, Independent Music Venues

    The Atlantis, a brand new small music venue opened the summer of 2023 in Washington D.C to immense excitement. That excitement would have seemed unthinkable three years ago, when COVID shutdowns rocked live music venues across the nation. Hit the hardest were smaller, independent venues, who were already facing high costs and corporate competition.

    Watch Now

  • Kyla Scanlon, Economist Breaksdown Economic Impact of Ticket Scalping

    Fans are losing $11 billion every year to middleman markups and ticketing platform fees, money that never touches the artists or the production. Watch Kyla Scanlon explain the hidden economics behind ticket gouging and the proof that these companies can still survive with capped fees.

    Watch Now

KFOR News Broadcast

Bill Would Protect Oklahomans from Ticket Bots

KFOR highlights OFTA’s ongoing legislative efforts to combat automated online ticket bots and protect Oklahoma consumers from predatory resale practices. Featuring commentary from state lawmakers and venue representatives, the segment illustrates how automated software inflates ticket prices and locks out real fans.