British bookmaker rejects bets on Obama assassination

London, Nov 8 (DPA) A leading British bookmaker Saturday said it had turned away punters wanting to place bets on US president-elect Barack Obama being assassinated, media reports said.

William Hill said it had received more than 100 requests from customers wanting to place bets but that the firm was not interested, according to Britain's Press Association.

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'I cannot imagine why any reputable bookmaker would even consider taking such a bet or any punter contemplate placing one,' William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe was quoted as saying.

Sharpe added that while such bets were not illegal, 'even bookmakers have the occasional moral scruples.'

Just days before Obama's election victory last week, US federal agents announced they had foiled a plot by two Nazi sympathizers to kill the 47-year-old Obama.

Daniel Cowart, 20, of Tennessee and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of Arkansas, both white supremacists, are suspected of having planned to behead 14 African Americans and kill 88 more. At the end of their killing spree, they wanted to assassinate Obama, federal law enforcement authorities said.