Ticketmaster Canada has stopped allowing resale tickets to be sold at higher prices for events in Ontario. The company is following a new provincial law that caps resale tickets at their original cost. This change started on April 23, 2026, and affects concerts, sports games, and all live events.
The rule comes from Ontario’s budget bill called Bill 97. The law updates the Ticket Sales Act of 2017. Premier Doug Ford and his government pushed for this change after fans complained about extremely high resale prices for major events like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour and the Toronto Blue Jays World Series games.
Ticketmaster has already started removing non-compliant resale tickets from its platform. The company sent emails to customers who had tickets listed for resale, telling them their listings were taken down. Starting next week, sellers can relist their tickets but must follow the new price rules.
How the New Ticket Resale Price Cap Works
The new rule is simple. No ticket for any event in Ontario can be resold for more than the total original cost. This original cost includes the ticket price, service fees, and all taxes that the first buyer paid.
If someone bought a ticket for $150 including all fees, they cannot sell it for $500 or even $160. The resale price must be $150 or less. This stops scalpers from buying tickets in bulk and selling them at much higher prices to make a profit.
The law also requires resellers to show proof of the original ticket price when listing a ticket for sale. Buyers must see both the original price and the resale price clearly before purchasing. Ticket platforms must keep records of all these transactions for at least three years after each event.
Ticketmaster Canada confirmed its support for the new rules.
“Ticketmaster Canada supports Ontario’s new legislation capping ticket resale price as an important step toward creating a more transparent resale market for fans,” a Ticketmaster Canada spokesperson said. “We remain committed to creating a fair and secure ticket marketplace for everyone in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.”
Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster’s parent company, also backed the decision.
“Live Nation Entertainment supports the Ontario government’s commitment to protecting fans by capping the resale price of concert tickets,” the company wrote on its Facebook page. “We are in favour of measures that promote fair, transparent ticketing and curb exploitative resale practices.”
Why Ontario Passed This Law Against Ticket Scalpers
The Ontario government decided to act after fans faced shocking resale prices in 2024 and 2025. When the Toronto Blue Jays made it to the World Series, resale tickets reached more than $11,000 for a single game. Standing room only tickets, which normally cost much less, were reselling for close to $2,000 each.
The Taylor Swift Eras Tour also showed how bad the problem had become. A pair of premium seats sold for more than $19,000 on StubHub. Regular fans could not afford to attend shows because scalpers bought all the tickets first and sold them at very high prices.
Premier Doug Ford made his position clear on social media.
“We’re putting ticket scalpers on notice: Your days of ripping people off are done,” Ford posted on X.
Stephen Crawford, Ontario’s minister of public and business service delivery, explained the government’s goal.
“We are taking action to help ensure Ontario fans have access to fair resale prices and are not exploited by price gouging when they buy resale tickets for their favorite events,” Crawford said. “With these new measures, consumers would no longer need to worry about being ripped off in the ticket resale market, and more families and fans would have the opportunity to see their favorite band or sports team perform live.”
Fan Reactions and Concerns About the Resale Ban
Many fans have welcomed the change. People who paid too much for tickets in the past shared their stories.
Michael Brown, a Toronto Blue Jays fan, paid more than three times the face value for four World Series tickets. He accidentally bought resale tickets because of a glitch on the Ticketmaster website.
“We were expecting to pay $1,380 and instead the price of those same four tickets was $5,043,” Brown said. “We immediately contacted Ticketmaster to try and cancel the transaction. They said that there was nothing that could be done.”
Slater Manzo, a Toronto music producer who often goes to concerts, thinks the new rules are good but wishes they came sooner.
“It’s a little too late,” Manzo said. “Especially when you think about something like Taylor [Swift’s Eras Tour], where the ticket gouging was crazy.” He also noted that concert tickets are already expensive before resale. He paid $230 each for Lady Gaga tickets and was not even close to the stage.
However, not everyone supports the price cap. Some ticket resale platforms warned that the law could cause new problems.
SeatGeek, another ticket resale website, said the rules might hurt fans instead of helping them.
“For fans looking to attend events, it could mean you’ll no longer be able to access tickets to high-demand events like playoff games and major concerts,” the company wrote to customers. “If you’re a season ticket holder or selling tickets, this could make it more expensive to own season tickets by hurting your ability to resell tickets at market prices.”
The Sports Fans Coalition, a group that represents sports fans across North America, said more than 10,000 Ontarians contacted the government asking to remove the price cap from the budget bill.
“Over 10,000 Ontarians have taken action, throwing a penalty flag on the Government’s ticket price cap proposal,” said Brian Hess, executive director of the Sports Fans Coalition. “As the Premier pushes this legislation through without any public conversation, we are making sure that fan voices are heard loud and clear, imploring Premier Ford: don’t fumble our tickets by passing price caps.”
Penalties for Breaking the New Ticket Rules
The Ontario government has set up fines for ticket businesses that do not follow the new rules. Companies that break the law can face penalties starting at $3,000. If a business keeps breaking the rules, the fine can go up to $250,000.
The government expects all ticket resale companies operating in Ontario to comply with the law immediately. Crawford said the province has “no tolerance for bad actors trying to overcharge families.”
The new rules will apply to all upcoming major events in Ontario, including the FIFA World Cup matches in Toronto starting June 2026. Tickets for World Cup games have already been selling for thousands of dollars online, with some listed for double or triple their original value.
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What This Means for People Selling Tickets
People who already bought tickets and want to sell them must now list them at or below the original price. They cannot make a profit on the Ticketmaster platform anymore.
Ticketmaster has delisted all non-compliant resale tickets. Sellers will get the chance to relist their tickets next week after the platform updates its resale marketplace to follow the new rules.
The law applies to all tickets for events in Ontario, no matter where the seller lives. If someone from another province tries to sell a ticket for a Toronto concert above face value on Ticketmaster, the platform will not allow it.
Some experts worry that the price cap might push ticket sales to unregulated places like social media or in-person sales outside venues. These informal markets do not have buyer protections, and people could get fake tickets or lose their money.
Others are concerned that the original ticket prices might go up. If resellers cannot make money on the secondary market, the argument goes, primary sellers like Ticketmaster might raise their initial prices to capture that profit themselves.
Jonathan Bunce, executive and artistic director at Wavelength Music in Toronto, said the real problem is bigger than resale prices.
“Capping ticket resale is a really good first step, but it won’t fix affordability on its own,” Bunce said. “The real issue is how tickets are priced and who controls the system in the first place.”
Guillaume Moffet, owner of an artist development company, agreed.
“On the surface, [the province’s plan] gives the general population something to latch onto, but it doesn’t address the true problem,” Moffet said. “My biggest concern is that prices may shift elsewhere, higher base ticket prices, hidden fees.”
Despite these concerns, the new rules are now in effect. Ticketmaster has taken the first step by delisting overpriced resale tickets. Other platforms like StubHub have said they will comply with the law but have not yet taken down tickets listed above face value. The coming weeks will show how strictly the government enforces the new price cap across all ticket resale websites.
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