Sportsbooks can’t seem to catch a break. In the U.S., sports gambling is a nascent activity, at least legally, and many states only recently began allowing the practice. A small handful had just launched their markets this year, right before the coronavirus reared its ugly head and forced the global sports community to its knees. Sportsbooks were forced to scramble to find alternatives in order to keep the lights on, and William Hill U.S., in addition to other options, went after the world of chess. It applied with Nevada gaming regulators to be able to offer chess tournament lines, and it received the go-ahead and began preparing the odds. However, once again because of COVID-19, it was forced to put everything on hold less than two days after first starting to accept bets.
The Candidates Tournament has been underway in Russia and William Hill was able to offer lines on games in Round 7 of the series. However, the International Chess Federation (FIDE, for its Spanish acronym) called off all play ahead of Round 8, which was to get underway yesterday, and William Hill was left holding an empty bag. It said in a tweet from yesterday, “For Chess Candidates Cup Round 8 matches: The tournament has been postponed before the start of Round 8 and it will be continued at a later date. If you wish to void your bets on the Round 8 matches please contact Customer Support in Nevada.”
For Chess Candidates Cup Round 8 matches: The tournament has been postponed before the start of Round 8 and it will be continued at a later date. If you wish to void your bets on the Round 8 matches please contact Customer Support in Nevada.
More info: https://t.co/1fuqpVr46W— William Hill Nevada (@WilliamHillNV) March 26, 2020
The coronavirus has mucked up everything – it’s amazing how much damage a microscopic bug can do. FIDE called off the games, which were taking place in Yekaterinburg, Russia, after authorities in the country grounded all airplanes as of today. There was also chatter among players over concerns of having to play amidst a backdrop of a global health pandemic, and a couple of them had already backed out.
The director general of FIDE, Emil Sutovsky, spoke with ESPN about the decision to postpone the tournament, explaining, “We can’t really lock players in Russia since we don’t know how long the flight termination will last. Players have their families, elderly parents and many other reasons to be home this time. So we had no choice but to stop the event.”
The tournament hasn’t been canceled – only delayed. When it picks up later this year, players will continue where they left off and the ultimate winner will compete against 29-year-old Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen in a match expected to be held sometime next year.
