HOUSTON – After KPRC’s 2 Helps You began reporting that some World Cup fans had their StubHub tickets canceled at the last minute without replacements, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent 2 Helps You’s Mario Díaz a statement early Friday morning, announcing that his office is now investigating the ticket-resale giant.
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Paxton’s investigation points to “widespread reports” that customers paid for 2026 FIFA World Cup tickets only to have orders suddenly canceled without warning, leaving the consumers without the tickets and experience they invested.
The World Cup in the United States is being viewed as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, meaning thousands of ticket purchases then resulted in additional travel plans and accommodations that had to be secured.
In the past week, 2 Helps You shared multiple complaints from fans who said StubHub orders fell apart days before kickoff, including one less than a couple of hours before the game.
In a June 26 report, Díaz told the story of a Toronto teacher, Lisa Coulter, who said her StubHub order was canceled six days before the Houston match she planned out months in advance. After Díaz contacted StubHub about her case, she said the company called her and provided replacement tickets in time to watch her homeland of Cabo Verde.
In a follow-up story on Wednesday, Díaz reported that Cypress resident Marilyn Gonzales said her family’s tickets were canceled shortly before a June 17th match involving Portugal in Houston. Gonzales told 2 Helps You she filed a consumer complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Office after watching Coulter’s experience.
Although, Gonzales family never made the match. StubHub offered a refund days later. The option for replacement tickets was not an option. 2 Helps You has asked StubHub on multiple occasions this week if there was a potential solution in providing tickets to Gonzales for Saturday’s Canada vs. Morocco - since the match is the final one in Houston - however StubHub has failed to respond.
In our same report, Esteban Vidal and his wife Yesenia from Tampa, Florida expressed that an identical experience happened to their tickets for a quarterfinals match in Miami on July 11th.
2 Helps You contacted StubHub last Saturday - a day after we made the retailer aware of the Gonzales case - and StubHub provided replacement tickets to Vidal less than 48 hours later. “I don’t think we could have got your tickets back if it weren’t for you,” said Vidal to Díaz in an interview.
Those reports, along with similar complaints surfacing nationwide and in Canada, set the stage for Friday’s announcement that the state is taking a closer look.
What Texas Attorney General says it’s investigating
Paxton’s office said fans across the country — including in Texas host cities like Houston and Dallas — have complained that StubHub canceled tickets days or even hours before matches.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, StubHub has blamed ticket-transfer problems connected to FIFA’s ticketing platform. But the state said some complaints suggest something more basic: tickets being listed and sold even though the seller may not actually have them.
That scenario is commonly known as “ghost ticketing.” In plain terms, it means buyers think they’ve secured seats, but the order collapses when it’s time to deliver the tickets.
The StubHub investigation comes while Paxton’s office is already investigating FIFA over different ticket-related complaints.
What StubHub is Saying
We are still waiting for StubHub to respond on the Attorney General’s investigation as well as the potential of tickets for Gonzales to attend Saturday’s match in Houston.
On Wednesday, StubHub told KPRC 2 it was “heartbroken” about Gonzales’ experience and said she received a refund plus additional credit. The company also said it tries to find comparable replacement tickets when possible.
2 Helps You also reported StubHub declined to comment specifically about Gonzales’ complaint to the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
Additionally, StubHub said many of the problems fans are experiencing are tied to transfer issues — not ticket inventory — and blamed performance problems and changes connected to the event organizer’s ticketing setup.
What to do if your tickets were canceled
Paxton’s office is urging Texans who bought World Cup tickets through StubHub and did not receive them — or who say the tickets they received were significantly worse than what they paid for — to file a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division.
If you purchased tickets through a third-party site, KPRC 2 has published a step-by-step guide on how to accept a ticket transfer and make sure your tickets show up in the FIFA app before game day.