What is Best Odds Guaranteed, and how does it work on a racing bet?

What Best Odds Guaranteed means

Best Odds Guaranteed, usually shortened to BOG, is a promotion run by many UK bookmakers on horse racing. You take a price on a horse before the race, which may be an early price or a board price offered in the morning. If the starting price turns out bigger than the price you took, you are paid at the starting price. If it turns out shorter, you keep the price you took. The bookmaker pays the better of the two.

The name sounds like a promise about the outcome, and it is not one. It guarantees the price you are paid at if your horse wins. It does not make the horse run faster, it does nothing for a horse that loses, and it does not change the odds of the bet. A losing bet loses at any price. The one thing it covers is the bettor who takes 5/1 at breakfast and sees the horse start at 9/1.

How it works in a bet

Take £10 to win on a horse at 7/2. At that price the winnings would be £35 and the return £45. If the horse wins and the starting price is 6/1, a bet with the guarantee is paid at 6/1, so the winnings are £60 and the return £70. If the starting price is 3/1, the bet is paid at the 7/2 you took and the return is still £45.

The guarantee is one-way. It can only raise the price you are paid at, never lower it. For that reason it matters most when you take an early price in a race where the market is likely to drift, and it matters least on a short-priced favourite whose price rarely lengthens. Our Best Odds Guaranteed explainer steps through the same idea with the sums shown.

Which bookmakers offer it, and from when

The ten bookmakers on our card do not offer it in the same way. Some run it for every customer, some need you to switch it on, and some offer it only by invitation. The start time also differs: several begin at 8am on the day of the race, others at 9am. The table shows what each bookmaker’s own pages say, and it can change, so check the promotion page before you rely on it.

On the card, a bookmaker whose guarantee is by invitation or for selected accounts shows “No” under BOG, because it is not a promotion open to customers in general. The horse racing betting sites guide sorts the ten by it, and each review gives the detail and where we read it.

What the guarantee does not cover

Every bookmaker’s terms set limits. The common ones are these. Ante-post bets are usually excluded, since the starting price of a race weeks away does not exist yet. Tote and pool bets are excluded, as are bets that are cashed out before the race. Bets placed after the race has started, or in running, do not qualify. Some firms exclude boosted prices and special markets, and some exclude certain bet types, such as a Lucky 15 at one bookmaker.

Most bookmakers also cap the extra payout, and the caps differ a great deal. At the lower end, Fitzdares states a cap of £1,000 per bet. At the upper end, Midnite states £50,000 a day and BoyleSports a figure of £/€50,000 a day. The cap applies to the extra amount the guarantee adds, not to your normal winnings. For a bettor with modest stakes it rarely bites, and for a large bet on a horse that drifts a long way it can.

Best Odds Guaranteed and each way bets

Most bookmakers apply the guarantee to win and each way bets alike. On an each way bet it is the price that improves, and the place part is paid at the usual fraction of the improved price. A horse taken at 7/2 each way that starts at 6/1 pays its win part at 6/1 and its place part at a fraction of 6/1, instead of 7/2. The place terms themselves, the fraction and the number of places, do not change.

Read the terms for the bet type you want. A promotion for win bets only, or for singles but not multiples, is common enough that it is worth checking, and the bookmakers on our card differ on it.

Best Odds Guaranteed and Rule 4

When a horse is withdrawn after you have bet, a Rule 4 deduction can reduce your winnings, and if the guarantee applies to the same bet the bookmaker’s terms say how the two combine. BoyleSports states that it pays at the bigger odds after the Rule 4 deduction has been applied: the better price is chosen first, and then the deduction is taken off the winnings at that price. Other bookmakers set the order out in their own terms. Our Rule 4 calculator shows both orders for any bet, and our Rule 4 guide explains the deduction itself.

Opting in, and the way it can be missed

At some bookmakers the guarantee is on automatically. At others it is a switch on the race card in the website or the app, and a bettor who assumes it is on can miss it. William Hill is one that asks you to opt in. Before you place an early-price bet, look for the switch. Once the bet is placed, you generally cannot add the guarantee afterwards.

Cash-out matters here too. Several bookmakers say that a bet that has been cashed out does not qualify for the guarantee, so if you plan to cash out you may give it up. Think about that before you choose the price and the bet type.

Why the starting price can be bigger than the early price

The starting price is set by the money in the market just before the off. A horse that is backed in shortens, and one that is ignored drifts. Early prices are struck before most of that money has arrived, so a price taken at breakfast can be above or below where the horse starts. The guarantee only helps when the horse drifts, and it does nothing when the horse shortens, because you already have the bigger price.

Nobody can tell in advance which way a horse will move. A bettor who takes the guarantee has a bet that cannot be worse than the early price, and is not picking winners any better for it. It is useful as protection against the one thing it covers.

A worked example with a cap

Suppose a bookmaker caps the extra payout from the guarantee at £1,000, and you have £500 to win at 6/1 on a horse that starts at 10/1. At 6/1 the winnings would be £3,000. At 10/1 they would be £5,000, so the guarantee should add £2,000. With the cap, only £1,000 of that is paid, and the winnings are £4,000. The cap applies to the extra, not to the £3,000 you would have won anyway.

Most bets do not come near a cap, and the numbers above are for illustration. They show why a bettor staking a large amount should read the cap in the terms before taking the early price.

Best Odds Guaranteed, price boosts and extra places

The guarantee is one of several racing promotions, and they do different things. A price boost raises a price above the market, for a single bet or a short list. Extra places pay on more places than the standard each way terms. The guarantee leaves the price as the market has it and only ensures you are paid at the starting price if that is bigger.

The promotions are not always combined. Midnite’s help centre says the guarantee does not apply to its Horse Racing Boosts, and other bookmakers exclude boosted prices in similar terms. When a bookmaker is offering an extra place on a race, the terms of the extra place may exclude the guarantee on that race as well. Read each offer’s own terms and check which one wins if two apply.

Questions to ask before you rely on a guarantee

Does it apply to the bet type you want: win, each way, singles, multiples? From what time does it start on the day of the race? Do you have to switch it on, and where is the switch? Is there a cap on the extra payout, and how large is it? Is the race a UK or Irish meeting? Does it apply if the horse is withdrawn and a Rule 4 deduction is taken? Does cashing out the bet give it up? The bookmaker’s promotion page answers most of these in a few lines, and the answers are what matter.

Is Best Odds Guaranteed worth looking for?

It is a useful feature for a racing bettor who likes to take early prices, and it costs nothing to use where it is open to every customer. It is not a reason to bet, and it does not make a bad price good. A price that was too short at breakfast is still too short if the guarantee never comes into play. Bookmakers offer it as a way of attracting racing customers, and the terms are the place to check what it covers and where it stops.

Treat it as one feature among several when you compare bookmakers, alongside cash-out, the app and the bookmaker’s record on the register. Set a deposit limit before you start, bet within a budget you can afford to lose, and keep in mind that the guarantee changes the price paid on a winner and nothing else. Betting is for people aged 18 and over. Free, confidential support is available from GambleAware, and one GamStop registration blocks every licensed UK site.