Best Odds Guaranteed 2026, What BOG Pays and When

• The shorteners are where taking a price beats the SP, with or without BOG
• The drifters are where BOG earns its name: without it, a punter who took the early price is paid less than the SP
• With BOG you collect on both sides, which is why it adds up to 7.5% across the week
• The price on the course is not a fair price either: the SP book on the same races averaged 101.1% plus about 1.95 points for every runner, measured on our horse racing betting page

BOG is a promotion, not a rule, so each book decides when it starts and who gets it. The terms usually settle three things.

• The start time: some books offer BOG from a set time on race day, others as soon as a market opens
• The races: British and Irish racing is the usual scope, with other countries and big festivals handled case by case
• The customer: some books tie BOG to a loyalty scheme you qualify for by betting a set amount each week, and any book can remove it from an account

Each way bets are where BOG is easiest to overlook and often worth most, because horses backed each way are usually at bigger prices, where every step up the odds ladder is worth more in pounds.

• When BOG covers an each way bet, the place half is settled at the place fraction of whichever price is bigger
• In the worked example above, a drift from 10/1 to 14/1 turns a 15 pound place return into 19 pounds
• The win half gains in the same way, so a drift pays twice on an each way bet that wins

How the place terms and fractions work is covered in our guide to each way bets.

Best odds guaranteed changes the price a bet is paid at. It does not change the other racing rules.

• Rule 4 deductions still apply when a horse is withdrawn late, and each book’s rules say which deduction is used when it pays at the SP
• A dead heat still halves the stake on that selection before the price is applied
• A non-runner in a multiple is still treated as void, and the bet runs on the rest

To see how a Rule 4 deduction or a dead heat changes a return, use our bet calculator.

BOG began on horse racing and is still strongest there. Elsewhere it is patchier.

• Greyhound racing: offered by some books on British meetings, on the same principle as racing
• Football: where it exists at all, usually on outright markets rather than match odds, as covered on our football betting sites page
• Other sports: rare, because most markets have no starting price to compare with

BOG is a concession on top of a price, not a substitute for one. A book that offers BOG but prices its early markets short can still pay you less than a keener book without it, because the early price is where the bet starts. The best combination is a keen early price and BOG together, and the price is still the part to check first.

• Compare the early price on the horse you want, not the promotions list
• Treat BOG as the tie-breaker between two books at the same price
• Remember that prices move for reasons you can read, covered in our guide to how betting odds work