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Tired Of Online Ticket 'Convenience Fees?' So Is A Colorado Lawmaker

DENVER (CBS4) - A Colorado lawmaker says ticketing agencies are "sticking it to consumers" with convenience fees and he plans to eliminate those fees.

Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, has introduced a bill that would outlaw fees on tickets bought online. He says some ticketing agencies are gouging customers and providing little to no transparency when it comes to the real price of a ticket.

Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City
Sen. Dominick Moreno, D-Commerce City, is interviewed by CBS4 Political Specilalist Shaun Boyd (credit: CBS)

"If you look at the convenience fees they charge, sometimes they will be upwards of 30 percent of the actual ticket value. So I don't believe for a second that they're using those to cover those credit card convenience fees. So there's something else going on here, which I want to get to the bottom of it," Moreno said.

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(credit: CBS)

"If the ticketing service fee went away I think we'd have to figure out for going after gifts, grants and donations to offset that cost, which I don't think is something that our donors want to pay for -- the money that we raise nonprofit-ally to support the 105,000 children that come through our education program every year … our back would be against the wall, essentially," said Janice Sinden with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

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CBS4's Shaun Boyd interviews Janice Sinden with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts(credit: CBS)

Sinden says the legislation would hurt nonprofits especially hard.

The bill will be heard in committee in two weeks.

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