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Venues, industry groups push Oregon lawmakers to ban "speculative" ticket sales that list nonexistent tickets

House Interim Committee on Commerce to Consumer Protection · November 18, 2025
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Summary

Venue operators and the National Independent Venue Association urged the House interim committee to ban speculative ticketing—listings sold before the seller possesses the ticket—citing cases of fans paying inflated prices and arriving to find tickets invalid or nonexistent.

Representatives of Oregon venues and national venue groups urged state lawmakers on Nov. 18 to prohibit speculative ticketing—listings for tickets a seller does not possess—arguing the practice misleads fans, inflates prices and damages venues’ reputations.

Marnie Smith, owner and general manager of the Hayden Homes Amphitheatre in Bend, described instances she calls "Maingate Heartbreak," when patrons travel to a show and discover their secondary-market purchase is invalid. "Speculative ticketing is a highly deceptive practice that deceives consumers by making them think they're buying an actual ticket, when in fact the seller doesn't actually have tickets to sell," Smith told the House Interim Committee on Commerce to Consumer Protection.

Rachel Lembo, executive…

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