2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIFTEEN - Sports and Parks (§§ 1 — 2020) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 915) › Chapter 18 - Cockfighting Act (2004) › § 301b - Powers and faculties

The Sports and Recreation Department is hereby vested with all powers and faculties necessary to promote, direct, regulate, and control any and all activities related to the sport of cockfighting, such as: the construction of cockpits, the fixing of seasons for holding the sport, classification and issuance of licenses for cockpits, the regulations of cockfights, the holding of tournaments, jousts, classics, fairs, exhibitions, the appointment of tournament and joust directors, timekeepers, and special judges, the designation of a commission attached to the Sports and Recreation Department vested with the powers to be bestowed by the Secretary of Sports and Recreation through regulations following the guidelines below; and anything not established or prohibited herein, may be regulated:
(a) No cockpit shall be established or operated, except upon the issuance of a license by the Sports and Recreation Department. Cockpit licenses shall be issued for the term fixed by the Department and shall be renewed every cockfighting season, before the opening of the cockpit for holding any cockfight therein.
(b) The application for establishing or operating a cockpit or to renew a license shall meet those requirements to be established through regulations by the Sports and Recreation Department, among which shall be included a certification from an official of the Department of Health, attesting that the establishment and its dependencies meet all the appropriate sanitation conditions and requirements, and another certification from the District Chief of the Firefighters Corps attesting that it also meets all safety conditions and requirements. Upon the issuance or renewal of a license every year, the Department shall ensure that the general conditions of the establishment are or shall continue to be adequate, and that it also offers the facilities prescribed by regulations for holding cockfights, according to the category of each cockpit. Provided, That any person who opens a cockpit to the public before having obtained the license authorized by this chapter, shall be punished by the Secretary of Sports and Recreation with an administrative fine to be established by regulations, and shall forfeit the right to be subsequently granted a license to operate a cockpit pursuant to this chapter.
(c) The Sports and Recreation Department of Puerto Rico authorizes the construction of cockpits, bearing in mind the fullest development of the sport, in number and conditions that guarantee the greatest exploitation thereof. When the construction of a cockpit is requested from the Sports and Recreation Department of Puerto Rico, the Secretary of Sports and Recreation shall hold public hearings, consultations or investigations and shall be responsible for publishing a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in Puerto Rico through which the people shall be informed about the purposes and ends of said request.
(d) No cockpit shall be built or transferred without the previous authorization of the Sports and Recreation Department and for each cockpit construction or transfer permit issued by the Sports and Recreation Department, there shall be imposed and collected a sum to be determined by regulations. In addition, every authorized cockpit shall pay, from its opening date, for every cockfighting season, a license fee the sum of which shall be determined by the Sports and Recreation Department through regulations. The classification of the cockpit categories for the issue of the corresponding license shall be made by the Sports and Recreation Department through regulations, taking into account the following factors, but without being limited to them:
(1) Investment in the project.
(2) Volume of business of each cockpit.
(3) Capacity, facilities, and general conditions offered by them for the comfort of the visitors and the size of the pit for holding matches.
(4) Maximum limit of bets for the holding of cockfights, number of matches to be held in said cockpit during the season, maximum limit of the admission fee.
(5) Sports, financial, environmental, and social impact.
(e) Once the cockpit is classified and the corresponding license fee is paid, no surtaxes or excise taxes shall be collected on account of admission fees.
History —July 31, 2007, No. 98, § 5, eff. 90 days after July 31, 2007.