2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIFTEEN - Sports and Parks (§§ 1 — 2020) › Subtitle 1 - Generally (§§ 1 — 915) › Chapter 11 - Horse Racing (§§ 181 — 198y) › § 198q - Undesirable practices

(a) The following practices in horse racing activities shall be deemed to be undesirable when committed in any place, within or outside the physical facilities of a racetrack in Puerto Rico. In all cases any attempt shall be deemed as an undesirable practice. Those practices carried out abroad evidenced by final and binding disposition of the forum with legal authority to do so shall be deemed as undesirable practices.
(b) Fraud in the races. —
(1) Every jockey or person who by fraudulent, illegal or illicit means interferes with the normal course of a race, or prevents the horse that he or any other jockey is riding in a race from exerting its maximum effort.
(2) Every person who is connected with horse racing activities inside or outside of the same, who directly or indirectly bribes, or by any other means influences a jockey so that said jockey by fraudulent, illegal or illicit means interferes with the normal development of a race, or prevents the horse that he or any other jockey is riding in a race held in a racetrack in Puerto Rico, from exerting its maximum effort.
(3) Any jockey or person who applies an electric battery or any similar artifact to a horse in the stable area or in an official or practice race or during morning exercises held in the racetracks of Puerto Rico for the purpose of stimulating, improving or altering the competitive ability of said horse.
(4) Every person who tries to incite, or incites a jockey to apply an electric battery or similar apparatus to any horse that is running in a race, practice or morning exercise held in the racetracks of Puerto Rico with the purpose of stimulating, improving or altering the competitive ability of said horse.
(5) Every person who bears on his person, or in any piece of his clothing within the stable area, paddocks, starting areas or mounting stations, an electric battery or similar apparatus that can be applied to a horse during a practice, morning exercise, or official race with the purpose of stimulating, improving or altering the race horse’s competitive ability.
(c) Illegal bets. —
(1) That any person or persons announces or offers for sale, sells, donates, trades, exchanges, or in any other way or means transports, bears on his person, buys, takes, receives or accepts, prints, writes, has printed or written, distributes or transfers any unauthorized printed matter, or card, or paper which is presumed to be, constitutes, or represents a means of participation or action in any form, bet, or wager authorized by §§ 198—198y of this title, regulations, order, or resolution of the Board, operating or conducting said act in contravention or in violation of its provisions.
(2) That any person maintains, exploits, operates or manages any place where said wagers are carried out in contravention or violation of §§ 198—198y of this title, or the regulations, orders or resolutions of the Horse Racing Board.
(3) That any person gives, pays, delivers or distributes, takes or receives any money or other thing such as prizes, gratuities, or winnings in or by such wagers thus maintained, exploited or managed, or who cooperates, helps, sees or participates in any of the above-mentioned acts.
(4) That any person or persons offer or accept a wager with regard to a race horse’s probable order in the finish of a race in violation of §§ 198—198y of this title, regulations, order or resolution of the Horse Racing Board, or any other applicable statute.
(d) Alteration or cancellation of betting tickets. —
(1) That after a bet has been officially registered at a horse racing agency or at the racetrack, the ticket is altered or mutilated in some way with the intent of defrauding, improperly collecting or illegally profiting from the product of the wager.
(2) That in any illegal way or by illicit means an attempt is made to register a betting ticket in order to obtain the product of the bet.
(3) That any person, in any way, joins with another to defraud any of the persons concerned in the authorized wagers.
(4) That a horse racing agent, his/her employees or the employees of the mutuel window of the operating enterprise cancels a ticket played without being told to do so by the bettor.
(e) Fraudulent birth or registration certificate. —
(1) That any natural or juridical person attempts to register or does register an imported horse in the registers of the Administration, by any means, making it appear as a native horse.
(2) That any natural or juridical person attempts to alter or alters the birth or registration certificate of a native or imported horse in any way.
(f) Penalties. — Any person who incurs any of the aforementioned practices shall be guilty of a felony and if convicted shall be sentenced to a penalty of not less than five (5) years of imprisonment or a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000), nor of more than ten (10) years of imprisonment or a fine of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both penalties at the discretion of the court. The Horse Racing Administrator or the Horse Racing Board may impose upon any person who violates any provision of §§ 198—198y of this title or of any regulation or order promulgated according to the provisions thereof, an administrative fine of not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor of more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation. The vehicles, equipment and monies used in the commission of these undesirable practices shall be confiscated. The Horse Racing Administrator or the Horse Racing Board may submit any evidence available concerning violations of §§ 198—198y of this title, or of any regulation or order promulgated pursuant to the same, to the Secretary of Justice or to any other competent body so as to request the corresponding investigation.
The Horse Racing Administrator or the Horse Racing Board may take the measures deemed necessary to prevent the commission of any of the undesirable practices herein listed or may initiate any proceeding for a party to respond for having incurred any of said undesirable practices. The costs, expenses and a reasonable amount for attorney’s fees pertaining to said proceeding shall also be imposed upon the guilty party. Said funds shall be covered into the special fund of the agency.
Non-compliance of the operating enterprise with the obligation to deposit, within the established term, the discount of the government or the fines imposed, shall empower the Secretary of the Treasury, at the request of the Horse Racing Board, to execute any bond issued by the operating enterprise.
History —July 2, 1987, No. 83, p. 296, § 18; Aug. 2, 1988, No. 175, § 4; June 5, 2004, No. 139, § 11.