Ticket Takers

The rules in Canada

Ticket re-sales are illegal in three provinces. (Everywhere else, it’s fair game.) Here are the relevant sections of provincial legislation.

Alberta: Amusements Act, Part 4, Section 25. Fine limit up to $200 or in default of payment up to six months in prison. “No person shall sell, barter or exchange a ticket of admission to a place of amusement for a price or consideration greater than that paid or given for it to the owner of the place to which it authorizes admission.”

Manitoba: The Amusements Act, Part X, Section 60. Fines up to $5,000. “No person shall sell, barter or exchange for anything any ticket of admission to a place of amusement for a price or consideration greater than that paid or given therefore to the owner of the place of amusement to which it is an admission.”

Ontario: Ticket Speculation Act. Fines up to $5,000. Exception to “the proprietor of a shop or hotel stand or a servant of the proprietor when such proprietor is an agent of a theatre, opera house, public hall, or grandstand, or of the owner or promoter of a show, game, race meeting, exhibition, or amusement of any kind for the sale of tickets, and where the commission charged upon the sale of each ticket does not exceed the maximum prescribed in the Schedule”

Here is the schedule mentioned in the Ontario act:

Price of Ticket	Maximum Commission
Up to $1.99	.25
$2.00 to $2.99	.45
$3.00 to $3.99	.35
$4.00 and up	.50

It doesn't seem that these laws are vigorously enforced; prosecutions and fines are rare.

Posted on February 27, 2008
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