*

FTC and states accuse Ticketmaster of letting brokers

violate

ticket limits

*

Ticketmaster controls 80% of primary ticketing for major

venues

*

Live Nation shares trading down around 2.3%

(Adds context in paragraphs 1-2 and 9-11, bullets)

By Jody Godoy

WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade

Commission and seven states accused Live Nation and its

ticketing arm Ticketmaster of costing fans millions of dollars

by tacitly allowing ticket brokers to scoop concert tickets and

sell them to at a significant markup, the agency said on

Thursday.

The lawsuit deepens Ticketmaster's legal woes, which began

after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift's much-hyped

Eras tour.

Live Nation shares were trading down 2.3% on the news.

Ticketmaster, which controls 80% of primary ticketing for

major concert venues, ignored brokers' violations of ticket

purchasing limits set by artists, allowing Ticketmaster to reap

$3.7 billion in resale fees between 2019 and 2024, the FTC

alleged.

Those actions along with Ticketmaster's failure to disclose

the full price of tickets, including fees, upfront violated

consumer protection law, the agency said.

Representatives for Ticketmaster and Live Nation did not

immediately respond to requests for comment.

"The Trump-Vance FTC is working hard to ensure that fans

have a shot at buying fair-priced tickets, and today's lawsuit

is a monumental step in that direction," FTC Chairman Andrew

Ferguson said in a statement.

Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah and

Virginia are jointly filing the lawsuit in California.

Ticketmaster faced intense criticism when billions of

requests from Swift fans, bots and ticket resellers overwhelmed

its website and the company canceled a planned ticket sale to

the general public.

Ticketmaster has known since 2018 that resellers violate its

policies, the FTC said in its lawsuit on Thursday. The agency

cited an internal email from a Ticketmaster executive that

copied Live Nation leadership stating that the companies "turn a

blind eye as a matter of policy" to the violations.

The Department of Justice sued in 2024 to seek a breakup of

Live Nation and Ticketmaster, accusing them of monopolizing

markets across the live concert industry. The companies have

denied the allegations.