The ticket price you first see will be the price you pay in Illinois, under legislation signed Thursday by Gov. JB Pritzker banning so-called junk fees that often jack up costs for concerts, hotel reservations, food orders and other online purchases.
The new pricing provision is part of a slate of consumer protection measures passed by the Illinois General Assembly last month, also targeting bots and “ghost ticketers” that scoop up coveted tickets for resale at exorbitant rates — if they even have them at all.
“Corporations have become more and more creative in finding ways to charge consumers more while telling them less about what they’re charging them for,” Pritzker said before signing the legislation at Concord Music Hall in Logan Square.
“We’re talking about hidden fees, about artificial scarcity, predatory lending products, ticket schemes that make it harder and more expensive for families to just enjoy a night out,” he said. “Together, those things add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year for many Illinois families.”
The junk fee law championed by state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, and state Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, bars companies from advertising prices that don’t include service, processing or convenience fees and other surcharges that get tacked on to the final cost.
Delivery and rideshare platforms have to itemize all costs and fees before the last stage of buying, while rental sites have to disclose “resort fees” and other add-ons up front.
“This law simply upholds honest and fair business, which our families need now more than ever as we continue to face a national affordability crisis,” Aquino said.
A Consumer Reports analysis found that an average family of four can lose about $3,200 a year on junk fees.
Erion Malasi, policy and research director for the progressive advocacy group Economic Security Illinois Action, called it “a major victory for Illinois families who deserve transparency when they spend their hard-earned money.”
“For years, we worked to expose how hidden junk fees drive up costs and undermine trust in the marketplace,” Malasi said.
Separate measures signed by Pritzker outlaw the use of bots to cut online queues for tickets to corner the market on valuable tickets, and require resellers to have tickets in their actual possession before putting them on the market.
Another law will require “buy-now-pay-later” lenders to register with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, clamping down on an industry “that has operated like the Wild West,” according to state Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort.
“It often becomes a loan shark with a new paint job,” Hastings said.
Lenders have until 2028 to comply with that law. The junk fee and bot laws take effect Jan. 1, 2027.