Not only do customers always like to get the best odds they can as a matter of course but this can make a huge difference if the horse actually goes on to win!
So in the ever-competitive world of online betting, bookies started coming up with BOG offers in a bid to attract more interest in their racing markets.
Best Odds guaranteed essentially boils down to this: you’ll get whichever of the two prices is bigger. Either the one you backed the horse at well before the race, or the one the horse went off at as its starting price.
In other words: customers get the best of both worlds.
Best odds guaranteed bookmakers tend to only run this promo on greyhound or horseracing events.
The main reason for that is that these are sports that have official SPs whereas the likes of tennis or cricket don’t. And as we’ve seen, the whole point of this is that customers get two bites of the cherry: either the early price, or the Starting Price, whichever is bigger.
By this stage, you might be thinking: it won’t make any difference if I get BOG on a horse or not, if it doesn’t go on to win.
Yes, and no.
If you back a horse as a single and it doesn’t win then yes, it won’t have made any difference in monetary terms. It would however have made a difference in that serious punters should always secure the best possible odds on all their bets, whether they go on to win, or not.
But BOG offers can also extend to each-way bets. So even if your horse didn’t actually win, the place part of the bet will benefit from the BOG offer. After all, the each-way part of the bet that relates to the horse placing is directly proportional to the win price.
So if you get a bigger pay out on an each-way bet as a result of Best Odds Guaranteed in a scenario where the horse wins, that’s ideal. You secured the bigger price on both the win part of the bet, and the ‘to place’ part of the bet.
But if the horse ‘only’ places, at least you get the biggest possible pay-out on the ‘to place’ part of the wager.
The BOG offer applies to win and each-way bets placed on horseracing markets after 8am UK time on the day of the race.
BOG offer is available on all UK and Ireland horseracing and applies to bets placed after 8am on the day of the race.
BOG is in force on all UK and Irish horseracing markets on all bets placed at early and show prices.
Applies to UK and Irish horseracing bets. 888 Sports don’t specify a time after which the BOG offer kicks in so we have to assume that it’s all on bets placed on the day of the race (after midnight).
Another case of the BOG offer applying to all UK and Irish bets placed after 8am on the day of the race. It’s open to both new and existing customers but they need to be verified in order to take advantage of the offer.
BOG is available on UK and Irish racing markets after 8am but only on selected races, not all races. So, customers are advised to check which races have the BOG promise and to bet with other bookmakers on races where Unibet don’t have Best Odds Guaranteed.
BOG is available to new and existing customers on all UK and Ireland racing markets as soon as the prices on that market go live, although this doesn’t include ante-post bets.
With Paddy Power most horseraces are eligible for the BOG offer, but not all. Any bets placed before 8am at these selected tracks will have the BOG promise.
With BetVictor, fans of greyhound racing can take advantage of the BOG promo, as well as horseracing fans. And it applies to all races where you’ve placed a bet after 9am on the day of the race.
Let’s start with some housekeeping.
First up, not all bookmakers are best odds guaranteed bookmakers. Some bookmakers may decide that it’s simply not in their interest from a commercial point of view to give their customers BOG offers.
The upside is they’ll save themselves millions of pounds a year over thousands of races by not always paying out at the highest odds. The downside is that they may lose out on a lot of business with punters preferring to place their racing bets with best odds guaranteed bookies, rather than those who aren’t.
Secondly, BOG offers rarely extend to all racing markets the bookie offers. They may decide that they only want to have BOG on UK races, or only on a particular meeting, or only on a particular day. So at best odds guaranteed bookies, not all races will be subject to BOG.
Other restrictions could include: bets placed at ante-post odds don’t count, bets placed before a particular time don’t count, place-only bets don’t count or customers living outside the UK or Ireland not being eligible to benefit from BOG offers.
As ever, read the terms and conditions carefully to avoid disappointment.
Right, on to a couple of examples of a BOG bet that does count.
Mikey decides to place a £10 bet on Black Beauty to win at 9am.
At the time he strikes the bet Black Beauty is 12.0.
The bet is placed with Bobby the Bookie, whose terms state that any bets placed after 9am on the day of the race are subject to their BOG offer, meaning the bet is a BOG bet.
There’s little interest in Black Beauty in the build-up to the 4.00 at Leicester and with other horses well-backed, Black Beauty goes off at an SP of 18.0.
Against the odds, Black Beauty goes on to win. Thanks to the BOG, Mikey gets paid out at the biggest price of the two, in this case the SP price.
What the bet would have won if there wasn’t BOG: £10 @ 12.0 = £120.
What the bet actually won because of the BOG: £10 @ 18.0 = £180.
Fresh from his BOG-enhanced winnings on Black Beauty, Mikey is keen to ride the wave of his good fortune.
At 9am the following day he places a £10 bet on Icarus @ 10.0.
Icarus is tipped up by several tipsters in the racing publications, whereas other punters studying the form also think he’s got a great chance.
Over the next few hours he’s consistently backed and by the time the 3.30 at Cheltenham goes off, Icarus’ starting price is now just 7.0.
Icarus goes on to win. In this case, the price at which he backed Icarus was bigger than Icarus’ Starting Price. So as per the BOG promise, Mikey gets paid out at 10.0, which was the bigger of the two odds.
So in this case, the BOG didn’t actually help Mike’s cause. But if Icarus’ odds had drifted to say 12.0 rather than shortened to 7.0, he would have received the bigger pay-out, in the same way as in Example 1.
One of the most important elements to successful Best Odds Guaranteed betting is getting those early prices, as early as possible.
So, with that in mind, it’s worth knowing when exactly bets placed will be insured by the BOG. In most cases, it’s 8am of the day of the race but not always, as you can see from the table.
Betting site | Timings | Maximum Daily Amount you can receive |
---|---|---|
Bet365 | 8am day of the race | Unlimited |
Boylesports | 8am day of the race | £50k |
Sportingbet | As soon as prices are available | £20k |
888 Sports | Any time on the day of the race | Unlimited |
Betfred | 8am day of the race | Unlimited |
Unibet | 8am day of the race | Unspecified |
Coral | As soon as prices are available | £50k |
Paddy Power | 8am day of the race | £1k |
BetVictor | 9am day of the race | Unlimited |
Bonuses are one of the best ways of bookmakers keeping customers happy. After all, everyone loves feeling like they’re getting something for nothing or that their loyalty is being rewarded.
Best odds guaranteed are a sort of bonus. They’re not a traditional type of bonus like a deposit bonus, a free bet or cashback which you receive as a one-off or can use as a one-off. Because in this case, they’re available on an ongoing basis.
But they’re a form of promotion that means customers get something better than they normally would. So, in that sense they are.
But let’s look at why BOG offers provide such good value for customers and what’s in it for you as a punter.
The obvious place to start but the right place to start.
As we saw in the example towards the start of this article, there could be a big difference between the price at which you placed your bet in the morning and the Starting Price one.
It’s very possible that the Starting Price is as much as double as the one you got when you placed your initial bet.
Even if that only happens three or four times a month, that could already make a significant difference to the bank balance of your account. That’s’ especially the case if the horse’s odds were high to begin with, or if you like to place large bets.
But the difference is far greater if you’re a very regular horseracing punter placing dozens of bets every day across the numerous races held on a daily basis. A good example of that would be a professional racing punter who has an interest in just about every race on a daily basis.
All those extra pay-outs add up at the end of every week, month and year. A good exercise is to work out on a monthly basis just how much cash you won as a result of the Best Odds Guarantee compared to what you would have won if BOG wasn’t in place.
Another aspect of BOG we haven’t talked about so much here is that it often applies to Multiples as well. If all three or four of the horses benefited from a BOG boost, then it will make a huge difference to the Multiple as a whole, should it go on to win.
Some other bonuses have a downside to them such as you having to make a big deposit to get your deposit bonus or having to place bets on a particular match in order to get a free bet on a future match.
Other bonuses have wagering requirements tied to them.
With BOG there’s no downside at all. It’s win/win because you don’t have to do anything different to normal, while the upsides are obvious.
Some other bonuses have a downside to them such as you having to make a big deposit to get your deposit bonus or having to place bets on a particular match in order to get a free bet on a future match.
Other bonuses have wagering requirements tied to them.
With BOG there’s no downside at all. It’s win/win because you don’t have to do anything different to normal, while the upsides are obvious.
But by its very nature, BOG offers mean that you don’t necessarily have to put time aside to get your bets down early because Best Odds Guaranteed gives you that extra level of insurance.
There are no risks associated with Best Odds Guarantee as such. It’s not like you run the risk of losing money by using it, nor is it a paid service that could end up costing you money in fees.
Rather, there are risks associated with excessive use of strategies that allow you to take advantage of it too much.
Here are a few of those risks:
If bookmakers cotton on to the fact that you’re too often taking smart early prices and getting paid out at those big odds on occasion, then end up getting paid out bigger prices thanks to a bigger SP on other occasions, they may restrict you.
One way is to limit how much you can bet on any given race, or on any given day.
Another is to remove your right to use BOG offers. Just because the offer may be available to most customers, doesn’t mean you can’t be excluded from taking advantage of it as an individual.
In very extreme cases, they could decide to shut down your account altogether.
One way is to limit how much you can bet on any given race, or on any given day.
This is somewhat unlikely to happen but we have seen it happen.
If this does happen, just make sure that all your funds are paid out to you before the bookie closes your account. If they’re not returned to you, contact IBAS for assistance in getting the matter resolved.
If too many customers are taking advantage of BOG offers by betting in an overly smart way and it’s costing the company too much money, they may decide to stop offering BOG to everyone.
This isn’t something you can control but it’s something to be aware of.
Best odds guaranteed is one of the best initiatives in online betting from the last few years and has helped horseracing punters get far better value from their bets. Not to mention seeing them receive millions of pounds more paid out to them every year as a whole.
Unlike lots of other bonuses and offers, there’s no real risk involved and no downside.
All of which means that the only thing you need to do in order to take advantage is to bet with one of the many bookmakers who are best odds guaranteed bookmakers.
All of those on the list above are so just choose one or two of them to open an account at.
A Lucky 15 is made up of 15 bets that are of equal value on selections in four different events. It includes four singles, six doubles, four trebles and a four-fold accumulator. It means if just one of your selections come in you will get some sort of return and if more also land your returns will be boosted. If all four win you’re guaranteed a serious pay-out. Some bookmakers apply Best Odds Guaranteed to the Lucky 15 which means that you’ll get bigger pay-outs than usual when placing this special bet. But others don’t, so check which do and which don’t.
We’ve listed seven or eight different bookmakers who all offer Best Odds Guaranteed on horseracing on a daily basis. So take your pick from any of those depending on your personal preferences. But Bet365 and Boylesports are generally regarded as being among the best for Best Odds Guaranteed.
Not nearly as many bookies offer BOG for greyhounds as they do for horseracing. But BetVictor are among the ones who do so they’re a good starting point, also because their terms and conditions are quite favourable.
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