Best Odds Guaranteed Bookmakers
What is Best Odds Guaranteed?
Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) or as it is sometimes referred to, Best Price Guaranteed is a concession offered by bookmakers on horse and greyhound racing.
When you take a price on a selection, Best Odds Guaranteed means that if the starting price (SP) is greater than the price you take, bookmakers will settle and pay your bet at the bigger price.
Wherever a bookmaker has the Best Odds Guaranteed concession then you should always take the price. There’s no downside, if the starting price ends up shorter, then the bookmakers payout at the price you initially took.
“Best Odds Guaranteed” flickr photo by amandabhslater https://flickr.com/photos/pikerslanefarm/4920015825 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license
Which Bookmakers offer Best Odds Guaranteed?
The majority of online bookmakers and sportsbooks offer Best Odds Guaranteed, though different T&C’s and stipulations apply. When you place a bet online, usually you will take a price on your bet and BOG will apply. That is unless you stipulate SP on your bet.
In the betting shops, Best Odds Guaranteed is less common. That can be dependant on the bookmaker you use and also how competitive a location your bookmaker of choice is in. The more competitive the location, the more likely you are to find bookmakers offering BOG.
Unlike online, in-shop, you will find fewer races each day have the concession. Again, the more competitive the location, the more races you may find each day with Best Odds Guaranteed.
Some high street bookmakers have loyalty cards. As a benefit of signing up, you’ll receive Best Odds Guaranteed in-shop on an increased number of races or even all races. 2 such cards are Ladbrokes Grid and Coral’s Connect cards.
Differing BOG terms and conditions
So while the rules applied to the Best Odds Guaranteed concession are relatively straightforward and consistent across all bookmakers the terms and conditions and stipulations that each bookmaker apply to BOG vary. The most important stipulations are the time that BOG starts on struck bets and whether they apply to multiple bets.
Often the T&C’s are tucked away in the bookmaker’s rules and not at first glance glaringly obvious.
The table below summarises some of the key stipulations and will be useful to familiarise yourself with before deciding who to place your bets with.
The information in the table relates to the bookmakers online Best Odds Guaranteed offering on horse racing. All bookmakers offer BOG on all UK and Irish meetings.
It’s worth noting that bookmakers will change these T&C’s from time to time and that at the time of writing, December 2019, these are accurate.
BOOKMAKER BOG available from BOG available on Bet365 Day/evening before Applies to all singles and multiples BetFred 7 a.m. day of race Applies to all singles and multiples except lucky 15’s, 31’s, 63’s Coral Not specified * Not clear from T&C’s ** Ladbrokes 9 a.m. day of the race Applies to all singles and multiples William Hill 10 a.m. day of the race Not clear from T&C’s ** Betfair Sportsbook 8 a.m. day of the race *** Applies to all singles and multiples Betdaq Sportsbook Day of race Not clear from T&C’s ** Skybet Midnight day of the race Doesn’t apply to enhanced multiples **** BetVictor 9 a.m day of the race Not clear from T&C’s ** Paddy Power 8 a.m day of the race Applies to all singles and multiples Unibet From when the bet is placed Applies to all singles and multiples Betway 9 a.m day of the race Does not apply to lucky 15’s, 31’s, 63’s 888Sport Day of the race Applies to all singles and multiples
*Not specified – nothing that I could find in Coral’s T&C’s related to what time bets had BOG applied from.
**Not clear from T&C’s – Coral, William Hill, Betdaq Sportsbook, and BetVictor. It is not obvious from the T&C’s if Best Odds Guaranteed applies to all multiple bets.
***8 a.m. day of the race – Betfair Exchange users who have opted for the Basic My Betfair Rewards Plan and who pay 2% commission on the exchange have forfeited Best Odds Guaranteed on the Sportsbook.
****Doesn’t apply to enhanced multiples – Skybet T&C’s state ‘doesn’t apply to enhanced multiples’. It’s not clear what an enhanced multiple is?
Bookmakers need to be clearer on their terms and conditions
The first comment from collating the information on the differing Best Odds Guaranteed terms and conditions is that some bookmakers need to be clearer on what they are offering.
Some like Bet365 are clear and obvious, others are vague and hidden deep inside their website or terms and conditions. I decided to contact Coral Customer Services as I couldn’t find any info on their website about whether Best Odds Guaranteed is applicable on all multiple bets and at what time the concession took affect? Neither could they, so no clearer on how their BOG works!
A little bit of feedback for those bookmakers, you need to make it clearer for your customers. A cynic may question what you are hiding and is your offer as good as competitors? On a serious note, one of the Gambling Commission objectives is that bookmakers operate in a fair and open way. If a customer can’t readily find your terms and conditions and they are not written in clear and easy to understand language then you are failing your customers.
Which bookmakers have the best BOG offers?
I believe the most important factor for deciding the best bookmaker Best Odds Guaranteed offer is the time the BOG is applied from. In general, betting markets become more efficient and odds become closer to an accurate the closer to the off time of the race you are. As more opinions and money enters the markets the odds move closer to the true chance.
When the markets first open, the opinions of the bookmaker’s odds compilers and the layers on the betting exchanges offer up the first prices. As it is a small pool of opinions with little money as yet bet into the markets this is where you will find the biggest errors in prices. By errors, I mean prices that are too big (and too short).
To those with a solid knowledge of the form book, close to the stable, tissue compilers etc, errors can be picked off. While having the benefit of the odds being protected by the Best Odds Guaranteed concession.
If you are picking off a load of overpriced horses then Best Odds Guaranteed will not kick in because the odds you have taken will shorten to SP. Additionally, you’ll be at the risk of losing your account or having restrictions applied if you consistently beat the starting price. On the occasions when you read the market wrong and the odds drift from those you’ve taken, you have the insurance of best odds guaranteed if the SP returns greater.
Bet365 and Unibet Best Odds Guaranteed
Bet365 and Unibet are the two firms who offer Best Odds Guaranteed from when they first price the race up. At present, Bet365 are the bookmaker who usually price up the following day’s races first. This is usually around 4:30 – 5:00 pm the day before the race.
At the other end of the spectrum, William Hill only offers Best Odds Guaranteed from 10 am on the morning of the race. This will be after the early skirmishes and once the market has had some time to form. This minimises the risk to laying horses at the wrong price.
I’d recommend Bet365 and Unibet who deserve some credit for the Best Odds Guaranteed timing stance.
Best Odds Guaranteed on multiple bets
Several bookmakers offer Best Odds Guaranteed on all multiple bets. This includes Bet365 and Unibet who offer the concession earliest.
Betfred and Betway do not apply BOG to lucky 15’s, 31’s and 63’s. It applies to other multiple bets. Betfred offers 3, 4 or 5 times the odds on one winner in a ‘lucky’ bet should all horses run and you have just one winner (3 x on L15, 4 x on L31 and 5 x on L63). In itself, this bonus is a decent concession. I expect that they don’t offer Best Odds Guaranteed on these bets as compounded with the ‘one winner’ bonus it makes it a marginal bet for them.
Coral, William Hill, Betdaq Sportsbook and BetVictor, it’s not clear from the bets T&C’s on their websites if BOG applies to multiples. Happy for some clarification on this?
The point is, to satisfy the bookmaker’s obligations it should be clear and obvious. If you want to attract business, it should be clear and obvious. If you play multiples I’d recommend avoiding these firms.
Which bookmaker has the best offer?
The actual price offered will play a part in who you place each bet with but, in terms of Best Odds Guaranteed I’d recommend both Bet365 and Unibet who apply BOG to bets struck from the day before the race and offer the concession on all multiple bets.
