Ontario has fined SeatGeek Canada a second time under its new ticket resale law, and the penalties are getting bigger. The province's Consumer Beware List shows two new administrative penalties against the marketplace totaling C$22,500, issued on October 8, 2026 and first reported by The Canadian Press on October 15. With C$25,000 in penalties from August, SeatGeek's Ontario total now stands at C$47,500, TicketNews calculated.
What the province alleges
According to the listing, the larger fine, C$15,000, is for allegedly making a ticket available for sale, or facilitating a sale, above the resale price limit. The second, C$7,500, is for allegedly failing to disclose the total price of a ticket originally bought from a primary seller. The province has not said which events or transactions were involved. TicketNews noted that the listing records administrative penalties, not criminal charges, and that they can be challenged at Ontario's Licence Appeal Tribunal.
The August round, issued on August 28, included C$10,000 for the price cap, C$5,000 for failing to disclose the original price and C$10,000 for facilitating a sale without proof of that price. Ontario previously confirmed SeatGeek did not appeal those within the 15-day window, TicketNews reported. StubHub Canada was fined C$20,000 under the same law in September, according to The Canadian Press.
Why the amounts went up
TicketNews found that both October penalties are exactly 50% higher than their August counterparts. Under Ontario Regulation 175/26, penalties for corporations climb with each order for the same violation: a major violation starts at C$10,000, rises to C$15,000 for a second order and C$25,000 for a third or later one, while moderate violations go from C$5,000 to C$7,500 to C$12,500. The province has said anyone responsible for price cap violations can face fines of up to C$250,000.
The rules, and the fight over proof
Ontario's rules took effect in April 2026, after fan anger over resale prices for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in 2024 and the Toronto Blue Jays' 2025 playoff run. They generally bar reselling a ticket for more than the total originally paid, including fees and taxes, and require marketplaces to show that original price and get proof of it from sellers.
SeatGeek says that is hard to do. “We are doing our best to comply but we have yet to receive meaningful direction from the government on how to do so,” spokesperson Cameron Papp told The Canadian Press. Joe Freeman, the company's vice president of government affairs, previously told TicketNews that “many sellers, including season ticket holders, don't have access to the original face value of their tickets,” and criticized Ticketmaster, saying its control over transaction information makes compliance harder. Ticketmaster has disputed that, saying primary buyers receive receipts that sellers can provide to resale platforms. The province, for its part, is not backing down. “We will not hesitate to hold bad actors who break the rules accountable,” said Giulia Paikin, a spokesperson for Stephen Crawford, Ontario's Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement.
Ontario is not alone. Resale platforms including SeatGeek are also in court trying to stop Washington, D.C.'s 10% resale cap, and the UK has its own long-running fight, as covered in our guide to the fight against touts.