Summary#
Bill 63, the Stop Ripping Off Fans Act (Ticket Resale Price Caps), 2025, would amend Ontario’s Ticket Sales Act, 2017. It would prohibit anyone from offering or helping sell a ticket on the secondary market for more than 150% of its face value, counting fees and service charges but not taxes. The title frames the goal as protecting fans from high resale prices.
- The price cap would apply to anyone who makes a ticket available for resale or facilitates its sale.
- The bill also changes wording in an existing part of section 2 of the Act; without the Act’s full text, its exact effect is unclear.
- The bill would not ban ticket resale or require anyone to sell a ticket.
- If enacted, it would come into force on Royal Assent.
What it means for you#
- Ticket buyers: A secondary-market ticket could be listed or sold for up to 150% of face value, plus applicable taxes. Fees and service charges count toward the cap.
- People reselling tickets and businesses that help sell them: They must not offer or facilitate a secondary-market sale above that limit.
- Everyone else: The bill does not set a single ticket price or require tickets to be available for sale.
Money#
No cost information is in the available material.
- The bill contains no spending amount or estimate of government costs.
- Sellers and businesses may face costs to comply with the cap, but no estimate is provided.
What is unclear#
- The Ticket Sales Act, 2017 was not supplied, so the existing rules and the full effect of the change to section 2(1) could not be checked.
- The bill does not define “secondary market,” “face value,” or “facilitate.”
- The bill does not set out how the cap would be enforced or what penalties would apply; those details may be in the existing Act, which was not supplied.
- No start date is given beyond Royal Assent, and the bill’s current status is not included in the supplied material.
Case for#
- A price ceiling could limit how much a reseller or ticket-selling business charges above the ticket’s face value.
- Including fees and service charges in the cap could prevent those costs from being used to push the price above the limit.
- A clear maximum may make resale prices easier for buyers to assess.
Case against#
- The cap still allows a resale price up to 50% above face value, so it would not eliminate above-face-value prices.
- The bill does not explain key terms or how the cap would be enforced, leaving uncertainty about which sales and services it covers.
- A possible trade-off is that some sellers may choose not to list tickets at the capped price; the bill does not say how that might affect availability.