Alberich writes:
Like maybe allow "gambling" in high stakes chess where say...someone
like GM Peter Leko pushing in his chips during a critical juncture at a
chess match against World Champion Veselin Topalov...and Topalov would
be forced to either call the bet or decline and lose the game?

No that's not enough. A subtle, sharp chess position is too
complicated for a TV audience to be excited by. The position in the
board when the bet is offered has to be "mate-in-one", like in poker,
where both players show their cards and the higher one wins. There's
tension in that kind of poker position because until the "move"
(revealing the cards) is actually played, the players don't know what
the position is. Other than that unknown factor, it's pure simplicity.

Chess has the disadvantage that all the pieces are on the board "face
up" where everyone can see them. Instead of getting tension from an
unknown but simple position, chess has to get it from positions that
are too complicated for anyone to understand. That doesn't play too
well on TV.