StubHub Canada has been fined $20,000 by the Ontario government for breaking the province’s new ticket resale rules, and the company says it plans to fight the penalties.
The fines, issued earlier this month, consist of two $10,000 administrative penalties. According to Ontario’s Consumer Beware List, one involved StubHub facilitating a ticket resale without proof of what the ticket originally cost. The other involved a ticket being resold above Ontario’s new price cap. The government has not identified the events or specific tickets behind the penalties.
The rules are part of Ontario’s revamped Ticket Sales Act, which came into effect earlier this year. Among other changes, the law limits how much a ticket can be resold for and requires resale platforms to provide documentation showing the ticket’s original total price.
The company told The Canadian Press that it intends to appeal the penalties, arguing that the legislation does not clearly establish how platforms should obtain and verify the original price of the ticket. StubHub says it has been trying to comply with the new requirements while navigating what it considers gaps in the legislation.
This isn’t the first time StubHub has to face Canadian regulators. In 2020, the Competition Bureau reached an agreement with the company over ticket prices advertised without mandatory fees, resulting in a $1.3 million penalty. Ontario has said companies can face penalties of up to $250,000 for violating the new rules.
