death gambling street

So this is a thing in Taiwan:

In a report published today in Next Magazine, an unhealthy gambling trend has appeared on Shijia East Street of Taichung’s East District, where over a hundred businesses under the guise of being elderly associations， and with the agreement of family members, used when the terminally ill would die for gambling, involving over 1 billion yuan. On one street just a short 200 metres long, there were 10 fronts participating in the ‘death gambling’ business, making it ‘death gambling street’!

The article noted that poor family member could because of this forgo emergency treatment [to dying family members] and immoral doctors could place bets to win money, both becoming participants in the gambling. Housewives, local gang leaders, insurance agents, etc. even fought to become group leaders [of the gambling racket].

Since words fail at this point, I won't employ them. It does remind me a bit of a certain Maupassant short story.

Comments

[dsquared]

This was popular enough in eighteenth century London to have been specifically banned in the Life Insurance Act 1774.

[ajay]

In its individual form. In its collective form, of course, it's still a thing - longevity derivatives, often on quite small pools (all the male pensioners from a single company, for example).

[gastro george]

Not quite the same thing, but my grandad used to pay into the tontine every week.