View Single Post
Old 07-30-2019, 06:04 PM   #38
jason taylor
 
jason taylor's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
Default Re: Curious Local Customs

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anaraxes View Post
That's not really a difference, though. There's already an entirely legal way to pay assassins. Give them money. Nothing illegal about that -- or any of the other ways to exchange value that are routinely used in contracts.

What's illegal is the assassination. Same thing here. This society would just throw in a law that says it's illegal to profit from a crime (we already have those, after all).

Also, they might declare that it's a crime to pay out to winners if they're found guilty -- possibly also if the event is under investigation for a crime. (Feel free to invent your own variations). In some cases, this would lead to a refusal by the market-makers to cover some types of events simply because it wasn't worth the trouble or the chance of being turned into an accomplice.
Unless it is a celebrity (or black humor at the ICU) is is no reason to bet on the death of someone in which case there will be far more betting than are suspects.

In certain cases the death of a given person is a POLITICAL event. If it is proved to be an assassination it would probably be for political purposes (I suspect the elimination of Olympias of Macedon was not motivated by desire to win a bet).
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison
jason taylor is offline   Reply With Quote