sporting chance

noun

an even or fair opportunity for a favorable outcome in an enterprise, as winning in a game of chance or in any kind of contest: They gave the less experienced players a sporting chance by handicapping the experts.

Origin of sporting chance

First recorded in 1895–1900

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

That gives law enforcement a sporting chance before the shooting begins.
American Gun Law 7 | David Frum | December 18, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
If Obama wins, there's at least a sporting chance on certain issues that middle-class and working-class people won't get screwed.
In One Way, an Equal Pox on Both Houses ($$$) | Michael Tomasky | October 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
Several interesting schemes were therefore invented to give the men at least a sporting chance of getting to safety.
The Romance of War Inventions | Thomas W. Corbin
If the master is such an arrant ass as to let you crib, it is his own lookout; and, after all, we take the sporting chance.
The Loom of Youth | Alec Waugh
I had spotted a white wrist back of a gleam of polished metal and, taking a sporting chance, I let drive.
The Lost Valley | J. M. Walsh

Not that he had any hope, but it was only fair to give even the most abandoned of mankind a sporting chance.
Skippy Bedelle | Owen Johnson
However, with the storm increasing and the long dark night ahead, we took a sporting chance, and ran direct in on the cliffs.
A Labrador Doctor | Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

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