Would it be legal for bookmakers to take bets on someone being assassinated?
<p>Background: My colleague just told me that he reckons Donald Trump's presidency is most likely to end in assassination. My first thought was: "Why not put money on it then?"; my second thought was "Would that be legal?".</p>

<p>From the bookmaker's point of view, taking such a bet would be stupid: if a person stands to win £100,000 from Trump being assassinated, it would give them motivation to pay someone up to that figure to carry out the killing. Further than that, I wonder whether giving someone motivation to kill someone could legally count as inciting someone to murder, which is illegal. Hence why I wonder whether it would be legal for a bookmaker to take such a bet.</p>

<p>As I'm from the UK, I'm mainly interested from the UK legal perspective, but any other international perspective is welcome.</p>

<p>In general it is illegal to gamble on life.  However, you <em>might</em> not even need to go to a bookmaker: A contract that pays money upon the death of a specific person is known commercially as "life insurance."</p>

<p>In order to avoid the moral hazard (or reality) of creating a contract killing market, <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/legalnewsroom/insurance/b/insurance-coverage/archive/2011/09/30/wager-on-life-void-life-insurance-requires-insurable-interest-stoli-stranger-originated-gambler-void-ab-initio.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">it has long been illegal to trade life insurance with any person or entity who does not have an <strong>"insurable interest"</strong> in the insured</a>.  (See also: <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/579b/65324acd2569bb933fbdb71f128d4857648d.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Insurable Interest Requirement for Life Insurance</a>, by Peter Swisher, who also has <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8b81/f2fcda8ad29c7b31f02d757a401e71e8ff3e.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a good review of laws and regulations surrounding exceptions to the rule like viaticals and STOLI</a>.  Further reading on the subject <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=how+do+viaticals+avoid+insured+interest+requirement" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.)</p>

<p>I don't know if it has been tested, but I think anyone could <em>argue</em> that they would face a significant financial loss if the U.S. President were killed or died in office: <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/11/21/stock-market-reaction-to-jfk-assassination/3662171/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the stock markets plunged on JFK's assassination</a>.  Therefore, it <em>could</em> be both legal and possible for anyone to buy life insurance on the U.S. President.</p>

<p>(Note that, in the U.S., the disputes about third-party life insurance have revolved for generations around the tax benefits associated with insurance premiums and benefits.  See <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate-owned_life_insurance" rel="nofollow noreferrer">corporate-owned life insurance</a> (COLI), a.k.a. "janitor's insurance.")</p>

united-kingdom murder