Contests

(225 ILCS 105/12) (from Ch. 111, par. 5012)     (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2032)     Sec. 12. Contests.     (a) A contest shall be held in an area where adequate neurosurgical facilities are immediately available for skilled emergency treatment of an injured contestant.     (b) Each contestant shall be examined before the contest and promptly after each bout by a physician. The physician shall determine, prior to the contest, if each contestant is physically fit to compete in the contest. After the bout the physician shall examine the contestant to determine possible injury. If the contestant's physical condition so indicates, the physician shall recommend to the Department immediate medical suspension. The physician or a licensed paramedic must check the vital signs of all contestants as established by rule.     (c) The physician may, at any time during the bout, stop the bout to examine a contestant and may direct the referee to terminate the bout when, in the physician's opinion, continuing the bout could result in serious injury to the contestant. If the contestant's physical condition so indicates, the physician shall recommend to the Department immediate medical suspension. The physician shall certify to the condition of the contestant in writing, over the physician's signature on forms prescribed by the Department. Such reports shall be submitted to the Department in a timely manner.     (d) No contest shall be allowed to begin or be held unless at least one physician, at least one EMT and one paramedic, and one ambulance have been contracted with solely for the care of contestants who are competing as defined by rule.     (e) No professional boxing bout shall be more than 12 rounds in length. The rounds shall not be more than 3 minutes each with a minimum one-minute interval between them.     (e-5) No contestant shall be permitted to participate in more than one contest within a period determined by rule.     (e-10) The number and length of rounds for all other full-contact martial arts bouts shall be determined by rule.     (f) The number and types of amateur or professional officials required for each contest shall be determined by the Department based on how many bouts are to be held at the contest.     (g) The Department or its representative shall have discretion to declare a price, remuneration, or purse or any part of it belonging to the professional withheld if in the judgment of the Department or its representative the professional is not honestly competing.     (h) The Department shall have the authority to prevent a contest from being held and shall have the authority to stop a contest for noncompliance with any part of this Act or rules or when, in the judgment of the Department, or its representative, continuation of the event would endanger the health, safety, and welfare of the professionals or amateurs or spectators. The Department's authority to stop a contest on the basis that the contest would endanger the health, safety, and welfare of the professionals or amateurs or spectators shall extend to any contest regardless of whether that amateur contest is exempted from the prohibition in Section 6 of this Act.     (i) A professional contestant shall only compete against another professional contestant. An amateur contestant shall only compete against another amateur contestant. A contest may involve bouts between professional contestants and bouts between amateur contestants, but a professional contestant shall not compete against an amateur contestant. (Source: P.A. 104-796, eff. 8-7-26.)