Texas Takes Aim at the Ticket Bots: SB 42 Would Send the Attorney General After Scalpers Who Scoop Up Concert Seats by Software

AUSTIN — The next fight over concert ticket prices in Texas runs through the attorney general's office. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, filed Senate Bill 42 on Monday, the opening day of the Legislature's prefiling period, targeting the price-gouging that scalping bots have enabled in the concert ticket industry, the San Antonio Current reported.

The bots are the bill's target. Scalpers use software programs that perform automatic and repetitive tasks to scoop up tickets the moment they go on sale, then resell them at huge markups to fans who never had a fair shot at face value. SB 42 would empower the Texas attorney general to investigate ticket scalpers who use the bots to buy tickets.

The filing is not Zaffirini's first run at the problem: it is similar to a proposal she introduced in 2023, which Gov. Greg Abbott ultimately signed into law. This year's version arrives as part of a much larger affordability slate — numerous bills filed ahead of the session's January 12 start focus on affordability, a major campaign promise for the Democrats who swept the statewide slate and took control of the Texas House last week.

For Metroplex fans, the stakes are local even though the bill is statewide: Dallas–Fort Worth is one of the country's busiest concert stops, and every arena and amphitheater onsale here runs through the same bot traffic. SB 42's future, though, is uncertain — the Texas Senate, where the bill starts, is still under Republican control, and the Current notes its path there is not clear. The session gavels in January 12.