Best Odds Guaranteed

By
• Learn The Lines
• May 17th, 2022

Best odds guaranteed is a benefit offered by sportsbooks on horse racing. Primarily a common feature in Europe at the moment but it would be no surprise to see best odds guaranteed (Sometimes referred to as BOG) offered in the United States sometime in the foreseeable future. In this guide LearnTheLines explains the meaning of best odds guaranteed, why it’s such a great feature for horse racing punters and how timings of BOG can be such a crucial consideration. 

What is Best Odds Guaranteed? 

Best odds guaranteed is a brilliant feature you can find at sportsbooks that offer horse racing in Europe. Whereby you take an early price on a particular horse and you know that by the time the race comes around you either get the price you originally took if it is the same odds or lower at the time of the off, or, and here’s where the attraction of BOG is, the horse’s odds have drifted out (odds have increased) you will be paid the price at the starting price (SP)  regardless of the odds you took when you originally placed your bet.

That essentially covers you should your horse’s odds be a higher amount at the time of the race’s off and ensures you get the full value for your stake. 

Best Odds Guaranteed Example

So let’s cast our minds back to the 2019 Kentucky Derby where the Bill Mott trained Country House won the Derby at odds of 66-1 becoming the second highest priced winner of the race in history. 

Let’s just say we placed a $10 win bet on the Kentucky Derby the night before with a sportsbook who were offering best odds guaranteed on the race. At the time we place our bet Country House is 33-1, it’s already a fairly large price on a horse that the sportsbook traders believe has very little chance of winning, so we decide to take it. 

The following day, in the hours and minutes leading up to the race we see Country House’s odds begin to drift (increase) all the way out to 66-1 at the Kentucky Derby’s off. Country House goes on to win the race and shock the nation but those who dared to back the horse pocketed a hefty profit. 

As we backed Chantry House with best odds guaranteed attached to it, instead of earning a return on our original 33-1 wager, we would instead be paid out the full starting price of 66-1. If we made that bet the night before with a sportsbook who were not offering best odds, we would still have been pleased to see our 33-1 horse win the Derby but we could have had double the return had we chosen a BOG sportsbook. 

Below is the two scenarios and how much we would return in profit on our $10 bet on Country House with best odds guaranteed and without

Here we can see that if we placed our bet with a BOG sportsbook we would have returned double the profit amount compared to the amount we would have received if we didn’t have best odds and were locked in to the 33-1 odds which highlights the real value of placing a bet with best odds guaranteed.

Best Odds Guaranteed Time 

Although plenty of European sportsbooks offer best odds guaranteed they do however all offer BOG at different times. In some instances you will find a sportsbook who offer best odds guaranteed the night before, but that is rarer and most will offer it on the morning of the race. You need to read each sportsbook who offer best odds guaranteed T&Cs carefully to ensure you are getting BOG at the time of your bet placement, if it’s not close enough to the race for that sportsbook to be offering it yet, you may decide to look elsewhere and find one that is already offering it to ensure you’re getting the best value for your stake. 

Will Best Odds Guaranteed Be Available in The United States In The Future? 

Best odds guaranteed is a popular feature of horse racing betting in the United Kingdom and with online sports betting still in its infancy in the United States we expect popular elements of sports betting to transfer over the pond. Horse racing is an extremely well followed sport in the US and it would not be surprising to see best odds guaranteed offered on horse racing at certain sportsbooks in states where it is legally allowed. 

Best Odds Guaranteed Considerations

• When placing a bet on a special offer/promo – Occasionally a sportsbook may offer a special promotion where perhaps they boost the odds of a selection or offer more places for an each way bet. As this is seen as a bettor perk, often sportsbooks will then take away best odds guaranteed from that particular pick. So for example let’s say a sportsbook does a special offer where they boost a horse that is currently 4/1 to 6/1, on first viewing this seems like a good deal for you, as you are getting better odds and more value for your stake at that moment in time. However, part of the promotion T&Cs states that BOG doesn’t apply to this offer. You decide to take the special offer and closer to the race you see the horse’s odds drift rapidly and the horse’s SP (starting price) is 8/1. The horse wins the race, of course you’re happy you won your 6/1 bet but perhaps slightly frustrated you didn’t get the full potential return by backing the horse at 4/1 with BOG attached to it and in turn getting the full starting price of 8/1. So when it comes to special offers where BOG doesn’t apply, you need to weigh up whether you think it’s worth taking the offer or perhaps taking the lower price with best odds guaranteed attached and seeing whether the horse’s odds drifts past the promo odds.

• When a horse(s) pulls out of a race – Bear in mind when you place a bet (With or without BOG), you will only get the full return for your odds if a certain number of the horses race. Depending on the size of the field, if one or a handful of horses pull out your bet will be subject to a ‘ruling’ which basically means that you will lose a percentage of your stake if your horse does go on to win. For example, for every $1 staked you might lose $.20c of it, so a $5 wager on a horse would become a $4 wager.