Ontario’s New Ticket Resale Law: What It Means for Fans and Resale Sites

On August 28 the province fined SeatGeek $25,000 for allegedly breaching Ontario’s ban on selling tickets for more than their face value. The company did not lodge an appeal within the two‑week deadline, so the penalty will be paid in full.

The fine stems from new resale regulations that became law when the 2026 Ontario Budget received Royal Assent on April 24. The government chose an education‑first approach, sending letters to secondary sellers such as SeatGeek, StubHub, FIFA and VividSeat before moving to enforcement.

SeatGeek’s vice‑president of government affairs, Joe Freeman, explained that the platform cannot verify the original price of a ticket because primary sellers like Ticketmaster do not share that information. Without access to the face‑value data, independent resale sites have limited ability to prove a ticket’s true cost.

Other resale companies have echoed SeatGeek’s concerns, describing the new law as confusing and hard to follow. Despite the government’s warning letters, tickets continued to be listed on these sites at prices well above face value, leading to SeatGeek and StubHub being placed on the province’s Consumer Beware list in early June.

For fans, the legislation aims to keep tickets affordable and protect families from inflated resale prices. For resale platforms, it creates a legal obligation to prove the original price of every ticket they list, which may require new data‑sharing agreements with primary sellers or changes to how they operate.

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