Arkansas Code of 1987 (2023) › Title 4 - BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL LAW (§§ 4-1-101 — 4-119-105) › Subtitle 7 - CONSUMER PROTECTION (§§ 4-86-101 — 4-119-105) › Chapter 88 - DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES (§§ 4-88-101 — 4-88-1404) › Subchapter 12 - EVENT TICKETING AND RESALE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT (§§ 4-88-1201 — 4-88-1206) › Section 4-88-1203 - Prohibitions by local government - Resale of tickets

(a)
(1)
A local government shall not enact or adopt an ordinance, policy, regulation, or action that prohibits the sale or resale of a ticket for admission to a legal event at any price or prohibits the charge of any fee in connection with the sale or resale.
(2)
This section shall not be construed to prevent the enforcement of an ordinance relating to any criminal activity, consumer fraud, false advertising, or other deceptive business or trade practices.
(b)
(1)
Unless otherwise permitted by a ticket issuer, if an individual, organization, group, association, partnership, or corporation knowingly purchases from the ticket issuer a quantity of tickets to an event that exceeds the maximum ticket limit quantity posted by, or on behalf of, the ticket issuer at the point of original sale or printed on the tickets, and intends to resell the tickets in violation of this subchapter is a violation of §
4-88-107
.
(2)
An individual, organization, group, association, partnership, or corporation is not liable under this section with respect to tickets if that individual or collective is the ticket issuer.
(c)
(1)
Except as provided in subdivision (c)(2) of this section, an individual, public or private entity, organization, group, association, partnership, or corporation that offers for resale or resells a ticket may charge any amount that the market may reasonably dictate above the admission price charged by the ticket issuer.
(2)
For a period of no less than ten (10) days, an institution of higher education or its designee shall place a ticket to a collegiate sporting event held in this state that is available for sale to the general public, at a price no greater than the face value of the ticket, but may include associated transactional fees and costs.
(d)
Under this subchapter, a ticket to a collegiate sporting event designated as being "for sale to the general public" shall not include:
(1)
Tickets to events issued, hosted, or sold by a third-party vendor;
(2)
Tickets reserved by an institution of higher education for fundraising directly or through an affiliated entity;
(3)
Tickets for internal or complimentary usage; or
(4)
Tickets reserved to meet contractual obligations of the institution of higher education or its affiliated entities.
(e)
Except as provided in subsection (f) of this section, a platform operator shall not intentionally use an internet domain name, or any subdomain thereof, in a ticketing platform's uniform resource location that contains any of the following:
(1)
The name of any specific team, league, or venue where events are held;
(2)
The name of the exhibition or performance or of another event described in subsection (f) of this section, including the name of a person, team, performance, group, or entity scheduled to perform at the event or venue;
(3)
Any trademark not owned by the platform operator, including without limitation trademarks owned by authorized agents or partners of the venue or event identified in subdivision (e)(1) or subdivision (e)(2) of this section; or
(4)
Any name or names substantially similar to those in subdivision (e)(1) or subdivision (e)(2) of this section, including without limitation any misspellings of any name or names described in subdivision (e)(1) or subdivision (e)(2) of this section.
(f)
Subsection (e) of this section does not apply to a platform operator who is authorized by any persons or entities identified in subdivision (e)(1) or subdivision (e)(2) of this section to act on the venue, performer, team, or event's behalf with respect to the sale or resale of tickets.
(g)
An individual, organization, group, association, partnership, or corporation shall not knowingly sell, give, transfer, use, distribute, or possess with the intent to sell, give, or distribute software that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of interfering with the operations of any ticket issuer that sells, through a ticketing platform, tickets for admission to an event by circumventing any security measures on the ticket issuer's ticketing platform, circumventing any access control systems of the ticket issuer's ticketing platform, or circumventing any controls or measures that are instituted by the ticket issuer on the ticketing platform to ensure an equitable ticket purchasing process.
(h)
A violation of this section is an unfair or deceptive trade practice as defined in §
4-88-107
and subject to the enforcement and penalty provisions contained therein.
Added by Act 2023, No. 590,§ 1, eff. 4/11/2023.