offering odds variation

one way of introducing gambling to online chess would be to allow a player, at any point in the game, to offer his opponent odds on which of them would win.

i think there should be a limit on how many times a player could do this (as well as a finite range of available odds).

if an opponent declines to take a bet then no money changes hands.

i think this would work well with my recent suggestion about simultaineous chess or indeed any number of alternative variations.

Why would you need to introduce something? Gambling in Chess is usually just $X per game. I guess you could add in side bets or upping the ante, but I've never played that way.

i like the idea of calculating odds on the basis of position rather than an up front stake prior to the first move. i think it would lead to a more interesting (and honest) betting format.