Does anyone take bets on chess?

[MJMcCready]

I was thinking the other day that even though gambling is prevalent in our culture I have never seen anyone advertising odds for chess. Could someone explain why this is so? To some degree a lack of popularity of the game must be a factor but even during the Short V Kasparov match, which had a daily following, it didn't seem possible. Could it be that chess is too predictable for bookmakers to venture into it? I would be curious to know what odds they would give for the proposed Anand V Carlsen match.

[Roger de Coverly]

Could it be that chess is too predictable for bookmakers to venture into it?

Far to easy to be fraudulent I would have thought, given the non-random nature of chess.

You will find some betting on a small scale, even players willing to run a book.

[Ihor Lewyk]

Wasn't there a site dedicated to chess betting for the Olympiad in Tromso?

I don't know how popular it was though. I'm sure they would give you odds for the Carlsen / Anand match if you look.

http://chessbet.com/

[JustinHorton]

Somebody seems to like it.

[Matthew Turner]

Paddy Power offer odds on chess. I believe anecdotally that they have stopped offering odds on the Irish Championships because they lost money. For the world Championships they are

Anand 11/5
Carlsen 3/10

On the face of it this would seem to be quite generous on Carlsen

[Gordon Cadden]

No chance of Paddy Power taking bets on the winner of the British Chess Championships 2015, then ?

[Martin Crichton]

Paddy Power offer odds on chess. I believe anecdotally that they have stopped offering odds on the Irish Championships because they lost money.

correction Matthew....

They lost money on their first ever venture into chess betting which was the Irish national club championships!

They lost money because of the sting! (and they only lost less than £5k - peanuts)

In a nutshell a group of Irish chess players decided to import the Romanian chess team and enter them under the guise of one of the local clubs in the national club championships (orcastrated to get one over on PP ) very clever IMO

A few people with inside knowledge of the scam made some money (I made £300....only pennies but hugely enjoyable getting one over on PP)

[MJMcCready]

So Paddy Power is the way to go then?

[Leonard Barden]

There have been odds available on most world championship matches for a long time. Ladbrokes used to be the market leader in this field, and their most famous chess bet was in 1972 when Jim Slater put a substantial amount on Fischer to win (my memory suggests £1000 and odds of 5-6 on, though I don't guarantee that). When Slater telephoned me in the early days of July with his doubled prize money offer, my first stunned reaction was "That's a rather expensive way to win your bet, Jim".
I believe there have also sometimes been odds available on the British Championship, the Olympiad, and the candidates, though my memory of who offered it is vague.
Certainly Paddy Power has been the market leader in recent years.

[Rob Thompson]

I vaguely recall betfair having been involved at some point.

[MJMcCready]

Thanks Leonard, lovely post. Bet (pun not intended) the 72 match still seems like yesterday?

[NickFaulks]

Why has nobody mentioned Marathon Bet? They make odds on a lot of chess events.

http://www.marathonbet.com/en/events.htm?id=140628

[Kevin Thurlow]

" (orcastrated to get one over on PP )"

er, that sounds most unpleasant - I hope you meant "orchestrated"!

[Stewart Reuben]

Because of match-fixing, it is always difficult to provide a book on any one-on-one sporting activity. Thus there have been problems with chess, badminton, boxing, cricket, football, snooker and tennis. No doubt, etc.
Only for the absolutely major events, e.g. the World Chess Championship final, can the bookmaker be reasonably assured that there is no fixing going on.
At first in 1993 odds of 1/5 were offered on Kasparov beating Short. This was withdrawn before I became certain I wouldn't be involved administratively directly with the match. So I never got that attractive bet down.

Carlsen at 3/10 does look attractive. It my be the odds will improve if there are a number of draws at the start.

[Andy Howie]

The lads that organise the Scottish Blitz up here have had a deal with one of the bookmakers in the past so players can make bets.