An IL Democrat bill to stop restaurant reservation fraud passes unanimously

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — A plan in Springfield to stop reservation fraud on restaurants passed unanimously out of the House.

Some restaurants allow third party websites, such as OpenTable and Resy, to help plan their reservations online. However, other groups have been using bots to take all the reservations, then selling them online.

State Rep. Margaret Croke (D-Chicago) said she's seen reservations being resold at prices as high as $700.

"None of that money goes to the restaurant itself," Croke said. "This is really a lose lose situation if we allow this to persist."

With the plan passing unanimously from the House on a 105-0-1 vote, it will now head to the Senate where lawmakers could talk about it in the coming weeks.