Interestingly the winners prize payout is only $110,000, i thought it would be more than that.
Where did you see this information? In fact, the prize money is much higher:
The prize fund is US$ 2 million split 60% vs 40% between winner and loser. If the match is tied after 14 classical games, the prize fund will be split 55% vs 45% in favor of the tiebreak winner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2021So, about 24 hours before the start of the first game. I studied many bookmakers (including fiat ones) and was surprised that none of them (even the largest ones) offer bets on the outcome of the first game. It is possible to place bets only on secondary indicators such as the number of moves, whether a check will be announced, etc. Does the outcome of separate games look so unpredictable to the bookmakers that they don't offer any odds?
You are correct, I checked it on >
https://www.chess.com/article/view/world-chess-championship-2021Prize Fund
The prize fund will be $2 million euros. The winner will earn 60 percent of the prize fund,
and 40 percent will go to the runner-up. If the match ends in a tie after 14 games and a tiebreak
will decide matters, the winner receives 55 percent and the runner-up 45 percent.
Before the start of the match, each player receives two hundred thousand euros as an
upfront payment of his eventual prize money. If the match is played in the country of one
of the players, then the foreign player receives one hundred thousand euros of the
prize fund and the remaining prize money is shared as stated above.
That would make more sense the current prize fund, I think I was looking at Wikipedia 2019.
It sounds like the bookies possibly cannot cover all the possible bets. Would it be
bizzare for someone to walk in to a betting shop and place a bet on the World Chess Championship?