Can you place bets on the outcome of a courtroom trial?

Question

Relatedly, I'd love to see a defendant's lawyer say, before the case goes to trial, "I'm so confident in our innocence that we will give the plaintiff 2-to-1 odds: if they win, we'll pay double what you were asking and we'll serve double the time on any jail sentence we get."

Sure, there's so much room for cheats, like getting information from an opposing paralegal...but you can say the same thing about stockbrokers: there are a lot of ways you can get unauthorized financial information about a company to illegally make money off the stock market. Yes, it happens but not to the degree that it threatens the integrity of the stock market; so we don't have reason to think that it'll be fatal to a courtroom betting industry.

Can someone with Internet design skills please create a website for this?

Answer 1

No lawyer who is involved in the trial could participate, nor could any juror, judge or witness. That is illegal and unethical.

As to gambling on the verdict in general, that would be based on the laws of the appropriate state.