- Fact-checked by Josh Miller
- Edited by Diana Westfield
What does SP mean in betting? It stands for starting price, the official odds of a horse or greyhound at the moment the race begins. Bet at SP and your bet is settled at that price, whatever it is. Take a price instead, say 5/1 at ten in the morning, and you’re paid at 5/1 even if the horse goes off at 3/1. Which is better depends on where the market goes, and that’s the bit worth understanding.
What does SP mean, and how is it set?
For horse racing in Britain and Ireland, the starting price is returned by independent officials who watch the prices offered by on-course bookmakers in the minutes before the off. It’s a sample of the real market at the track, not a figure invented by your bookmaker. Every bookmaker then uses the same SP to settle SP bets.
Because the on-course market moves with late money, SP is where you find out what the betting public thought at the last moment. A horse that drifts from 3/1 in the morning to 6/1 at the off has found little support; one that shortens from 8/1 to 4/1 has been backed.
Taking a price vs SP, and best odds guaranteed
Taking an early price is a bet on the market moving against you. If you’re right that a horse is better than its price, others usually work it out too and the price shortens, so the early price wins. If you’re wrong, SP would have paid more. Many bookmakers now offer best odds guaranteed on horse racing: you take a price, and if SP is bigger you’re paid at SP. With BOG, taking a price early costs you nothing. The CasinoCalcs best odds guaranteed calculator shows what the concession adds to a winner.
Evens, odds-on, nap and other words
Evens is 1/1, or 2.0 decimal: you win what you staked, so £10 returns £20. Odds-on is anything shorter, like 4/6, where you win less than your stake: £6 on at 4/6 wins £4. Odds-against is anything longer than evens. A nap is a tipster’s best bet of the day and NB is their next best. Joint-favourites and co-favourites share the shortest price. For turning any of these into decimals or chances, the odds converter handles every format, and the betting odds chart lists the common prices side by side.
The price is never the whole story. BeGambleAware.org has free support if betting’s taking over.