- Maths reviewed by Josh Miller
- Tested by Diana Westfield
Best odds guaranteed is the one racing concession that’s almost always worth having. You take 5/1 about a horse in the morning, it drifts to 8/1 by the off, it wins, and the bookmaker pays you at 8/1 anyway. On a £10 win bet that’s £90 back instead of £60. If the price shortens to 3/1 instead, you keep your 5/1. The CasinoCalcs BOG calculator above settles both cases, win or each way, with or without a cap.
Best odds guaranteed, explained with a real bet
Say it’s a Saturday handicap and you like a 6/1 shot early doors. With BOG on, taking that 6/1 is a free option. Here’s how three different starting prices settle for £10 each way at 1/5 odds when the horse wins:
| SP | Paid at | Win part | Place part | Total back |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4/1 | 6/1 (yours) | £70 | £22 | £92 |
| 6/1 | 6/1 | £70 | £22 | £92 |
| 10/1 | 10/1 (SP) | £110 | £30 | £140 |
The bottom row is where BOG earns its keep: £48 more for doing nothing different. And it works on the place part as well, which plenty of punters don’t realise. If the horse had only finished third at an SP of 10/1, you’d get £30 back on the place half rather than £22.
The small print that changes the maths
Bookmakers don’t all run BOG the same way, so read the terms once and remember them. The usual differences are:
- A cap on the extra. Some limit what BOG can add, for example to a few thousand pounds a day. For most stakes it never bites, but put the figure into the calculator if yours has one.
- Which races count. It’s commonly UK and Irish racing only, and some firms switch it off for the biggest festivals or for races priced up before a set time.
- When it starts. Some apply it from the first show of prices on the day, others only from a fixed time in the morning. A bet struck the night before may not qualify.
- Who gets it. Accounts that mostly bet early and win can find BOG quietly removed. That’s the bookmaker’s call, and there’s no arguing with it.
Rule 4 and non-runners
A non-runner doesn’t cancel BOG, but it complicates it. If a well-fancied horse is withdrawn after you’ve taken a price, a Rule 4 deduction comes off your winnings at the price you took. The SP, on the other hand, is formed after the withdrawal, so it already reflects the smaller field and carries no deduction. The bookmaker pays whichever works out better for you. Run both through the Rule 4 calculator and this one if you want to check a settlement.
Is the early price worth taking?
With BOG, taking an early price only has an upside, so if you’ve made your mind up there’s little reason to wait for the SP. Without BOG it’s a real decision: the morning price might be the best you’ll see, or the horse might drift. If you’re comparing what different prices do to a full racecard bet, the horse racing calculator handles Lucky 15s and Yankees, and the each way calculator covers place terms by field size. The ready reckoner lists returns at every common price if you’d rather read it off a table.
BOG makes a good price better. It doesn’t turn a bad bet into a good one. BeGambleAware.org has free support if betting stops being fun.