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Trump signs order to combat ticket scalping, protect fans

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Order targets scalpers' use of bots, enforces competition

laws

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Live Nation supports order, calls for resale reforms

(Adds Live Nation statement in paragraphs 7-8)

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump

on Monday signed an executive order aimed at protecting fans

from "exploitative ticket scalping" and reforming the U.S. live

entertainment ticketing industry.

Trump signed the directive in the Oval Office, with singer

Kid Rock standing next to him in a patriotic American

flag-themed outfit. Kid Rock said ticket scalpers' use of bots

to buy large numbers of tickets at face value and then selling

them for a profit is a big problem in the industry.

"I want the fans to have fair ticket prices," Kid Rock said,

adding that legislation was eventually needed to cap ticket

purchases.

The order directs Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S.

Attorney General Pam Bondi to ensure that ticket scalpers are in

full compliance with the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service

and other applicable law, a White House fact sheet said.

It also orders the Federal Trade Commission to work with the

U.S. attorney to ensure that competition laws are appropriately

enforced in the concert and entertainment industry, according to

the fact sheet.

The Justice Department and dozens of state attorneys general

sued Live Nation Entertainment ( LYV ) and its ticket-selling

unit, Ticketmaster, last year for allegedly monopolizing markets

across the live concert industry in ways that hurt artists and

fans.

Live Nation Entertainment ( LYV ) issued a statement on Monday in

support of Trump's order and thanked him for trying to address

scalpers and bots.

"We support any meaningful resale reforms - including more

enforcement of the BOTS act, caps on resale prices, and more,"

the firm said.

In January, U.S. senators assailed Live Nation

Entertainment's ( LYV ) lack of transparency and inability to block bot

purchases of tickets, in a hearing called after a major fiasco

involving ticket sales for a Taylor Swift concert tour.

Ticketmaster, which has been unpopular with fans for years,

drew fresh heat from U.S. lawmakers over how it handled ticket

sales last fall for Swift's "Eras" tour, her first in five

years.

Experts say Ticketmaster commands more than a 70% market

share of primary ticket services for major U.S. concert venues.

The fact sheet singled out bot sales in particular.

"Ticket scalpers use bots and other unfair means to acquire

large quantities of face-value tickets, then re-sell them at an

enormous markup on the secondary market, price-gouging consumers

and depriving fans of the opportunity to see their favorite

artists without incurring extraordinary expenses," it said.