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Best odds guaranteed sites solve a familiar race-day problem. You back a horse at 5/1 at breakfast (5/1 means £5 profit for every £1 staked), the price grows to 8/1 by the off, and the horse wins.
With best odds guaranteed, or BOG, the bookmaker pays you at whichever of the two prices is bigger, so you collect at 8/1. The real value sits in the details: what time the concession starts, how much extra it pays in a day, and which bets it leaves out. Those details differ between bookmakers with best odds guaranteed 2026 terms, and they matter more than the logo on the betslip.
Compare BOG Betting Sites
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BOG: The Short Answer
BOG is a promise about price, nothing more. Anyone wondering what is best odds guaranteed in practice can read the box below and stop there if they like.
Quick answer: You take a price when you place your bet. The race runs and an official starting price is recorded at the off. If your horse wins and that starting price is bigger, you’re paid at the bigger one. If it’s smaller, you keep the price you took.
The promise only touches winning bets, plus the place part of an each way bet, which comes up further down.
It costs nothing to use, and best odds guaranteed never makes a payout smaller than the figure printed on your betslip. Background, examples and history sit in the complete BOG guide.
BOG Times and Limits Compared
Start time is the term that catches beginners out. A bet placed before a bookmaker’s BOG start time on race day gets no price protection at all, even if the horse drifts and wins. BOG times are set by each operator, and so are the limits that sit beside them.
| Term | What it controls | What it means for your bet |
|---|---|---|
| Start time | The moment BOG switches on for the day | Bets struck earlier are settled at the price taken, with no top-up |
| Daily cap | The most extra money BOG will add in one day | Once you hit it, further winners are paid at the price you took |
| Multiples | Whether doubles, trebles and accas qualify | Some firms protect singles only |
| Greyhounds | Whether dog races are included | Often left out, or given separate times |
| Opt-in | Whether you must switch BOG on first | Miss this step and the concession doesn’t apply |
Read each row as a question to ask before the first bet of the day. Best odds guaranteed times and caps change, sometimes for a single big meeting, so check the bookmaker’s own racing terms on the day rather than relying on what applied last month.
Our Criteria for the Best BOG Sites
Five tests decide whether a BOG offer earns a place in your accounts. They sort BOG bookmakers by what the concession pays in real races, not by how prominently it’s advertised.
Start time and the daily cap
An early start time is the single biggest advantage. Prices go up in the morning, and the punter who wants protection from 9am gets nothing from a concession that starts at noon.
The daily cap matters most for larger stakes. A small cap on the extra winnings barely affects a £5 punter but can wipe out most of the benefit for someone staking £100 a race. If a bookmaker sets a cap, the size of it tells you who the offer is really for.
What the concession covers
Coverage separates the strong offers from the thin ones. The checks are whether multiples and each way bets are included, whether best odds guaranteed horse racing extends beyond UK and Irish meetings, and whether best odds guaranteed greyhounds is offered at all.
Then comes eligibility. Some operators make you opt in, and some extend BOG only to selected accounts. Both points belong in the decision before you deposit.
Prices, licence, and safety tools
A guarantee is only worth as much as the early price it protects. The best odds guaranteed sites worth using also price competitively in the morning because a mean early price topped up to SP is no better than a fair price elsewhere. Every operator must hold a UK Gambling Commission licence and offer working safer gambling tools such as deposit limits and time-outs.
Best Odds Guaranteed Sites Reviewed
All 7 bookmakers below pay BOG on UK and Irish horse racing, but on different terms. Start times run from 8am to 9am, caps on the extra winnings range from £10,000 a day to no separate limit, and some offers leave out multiples, greyhounds or extra-place races.
Betfred
- Licence: UKGC; trading since 1967
- BOG start time: 8am on race day
- Cap on extra winnings: no separate BOG cap; standard maximum winnings rules apply
- Exclusions: Lucky 15, 31 and 63 online, Super Extra Place races, ante-post, Tote and bets struck at SP
- Withdrawals: cards usually within 4 hours
Betfred is one of two bookmakers here with no separate cap on BOG top-ups, so a big drifter at a large stake is limited only by the general maximum winnings rules, which reach £1,000,000 on UK and Irish full-service racing. The 8am start covers most of the morning market.
Full-cover bets are the catch. Lucky 15s, 31s and 63s placed online don’t get BOG, and Super Extra Place races sit outside it too, so a punter who likes extra places has to choose between the two on those races. Racing is the house speciality, backed by Betfred TV and a large shop network.
Best for: larger stakes on morning prices.
bet365
- Licence: UKGC; founded in 2000
- BOG start time: 8am on race day
- Cap on extra winnings: no separate BOG cap stated; maximum winnings rules apply
- Coverage: UK and Irish horse racing, plus greyhounds
- Exclusions: Each Way Extra and Position Payout bets
Greyhounds are the difference. Most bookmakers here keep BOG to horse racing, while bet365 extends it to the dogs, which suits anyone who bets the morning greyhound cards as well as the racing. Like Betfred, it sets no separate cap on the extra winnings.
Each Way Extra, its own adjusted place terms, doesn’t combine with BOG, and neither does Position Payout. Its BOG is a singles-first offer, with multiples less clearly covered than at William Hill or Ladbrokes.
Best for: morning racing and greyhound bets in one account.
Sky Bet
- Licence: UKGC; launched in 2001
- BOG start time: 9am on race day
- Cap on extra winnings: £50,000 per bet on horse racing; repeat bets on the same selection in the same race capped at £25,000 per race
- Eligibility: linked to Sky Bet Club, which needs £30 of bets in a week
- Exclusions: Extra Place races, Price Boosts, enhanced and packaged accumulators, ante-post, Tote and In Running bets
Sky Bet starts an hour later than most, at 9am, so a breakfast bet at 8:30 gets no protection. The cap works per bet rather than per day: each winner can gain up to £50,000 above the price taken, and a busy Saturday isn’t squeezed into one daily total.
BOG is tied to Sky Bet Club, which needs £30 of bets a week. Extra Place races are excluded, so on those races the extra place replaces price protection rather than adding to it.
Best for: regular weekly punters with larger single bets.
BoyleSports
- Licence: UKGC; trading since 1982
- BOG start time: race morning, listed as 8am by most comparison sites
- Cap on extra winnings: £50,000 per day for online customers; lower in shops
- Coverage: win and each way bets on UK and Irish racing
- Exclusions: place only, Match bets, ante-post, Tote, cashed-out bets, free bets, Price Boosts and packaged multiples such as Daily Doubles
BoyleSports calls itself a horse racing specialist, and its BOG terms back that up. The £50,000 daily cap for online customers is the highest per-day figure in this set, well above the £10,000 at Ladbrokes and Coral and double William Hill’s £25,000.
Both halves of an each way bet are covered. Cashing out removes BOG from the bet, and free bets and Price Boosts don’t qualify, so the concession works best on plain win and each way singles.
Best for: regular racing singles and each way bets.
William Hill
- Licence: UKGC; trading since 1934
- BOG start time: 8am on race day
- Cap on extra winnings: £25,000 per customer per day
- Coverage: win and each way singles, and multiples on the win market, on UK and Irish horse racing
- Eligibility: opt in once through the Best Odds Guaranteed button on a race card; online and app bets only
William Hill is the only bookmaker here with a clear opt-in step. Tap the Best Odds Guaranteed opt-in on any race card and it stays on until cancelled, but bets struck before that get no protection. Shop and telephone bets sit outside it.
Multiples on the win market are covered, which not every rival promises. The £25,000 daily cap sits in the middle of this set, and greyhounds are outside the standard terms.
Best for: app punters who back racing multiples.
Ladbrokes
- Licence: UKGC; trading since 1886
- BOG start time: 8am on race day
- Cap on extra winnings: £10,000 per day
- Coverage: win and each way singles and multiples, at early and board prices, on UK and Irish horse racing
- Exclusions: place only, top finish, Tote, ante-post and shop bets; BOG bets can’t be cashed out
Ladbrokes covers more bet types than most: singles and multiples, each way, and board prices as well as early prices, with no minimum spend. The 8am start matches most of the market.
The £10,000 daily cap is the trade-off. It barely touches a £10 punter but limits the gain for anyone staking hundreds a race. A BOG bet can’t be cashed out, so the choice between the two has to be made when the bet goes on.
Best for: multiples at modest stakes.
Coral
- Licence: UKGC; trading since 1926
- BOG start time: race day, listed as 8am by most comparison sites
- Cap on extra winnings: £10,000 per day
- Coverage: win and each way bets on UK and Irish horse racing
- Exclusions: place only, top finish and shop bets
Coral is Ladbrokes’ sister brand under Entain, and its BOG terms largely mirror them, including the £10,000 daily cap. Where it stands out is extra places, a regular part of its racing offer.
The two concessions rarely stack. On extra-place races BOG often doesn’t apply, so the useful question each morning is which one the race offers.
Best for: punters who mix BOG with extra-place races.
Best Odds Guaranteed Bookmakers Compared
The start time is almost uniform at 8am, with Sky Bet an hour later. The cap is where the offers split, from no separate limit to £10,000 a day.
| Bookmaker | Start time | Cap on extra winnings | Key exclusions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betfred | 8am | No separate BOG cap | Lucky 15/31/63 online, Super Extra Place races |
| bet365 | 8am | No separate BOG cap | Each Way Extra, Position Payout |
| Sky Bet | 9am | £50k per bet; £25k per race on repeat bets | Extra Place races, Price Boosts, packaged accas |
| BoyleSports | Race morning (8am at most listings) | £50k per day online | Place only, free bets, Price Boosts |
| William Hill | 8am, opt-in needed | £25k per day | Shop and phone bets |
| Ladbrokes | 8am | £10k per day | Place only, top finish, ante-post |
| Coral | Race day (8am at most listings) | £10k per day | Place only, top finish |
For small stakes the start time matters most, since a cap of £10,000 is never reached on a £5 bet. For larger stakes the cap decides the value, and the brands with no separate limit, or a per-bet one, carry the most room.
How Best Odds Guaranteed Bookies Settle Your Bet
Settlement follows the same five steps every time.
- The bookmaker publishes an early price (EP), the first odds it offers on a horse, usually the evening before or on race morning. The odds guide explains how fractional prices like 4/1 turn into returns.
- You place a bet at that price after the BOG start time. Say you take 4/1 with £10.
- The price keeps moving until the race starts. A drifter is a horse whose price gets bigger because fewer people back it; a steamer is one whose price gets smaller because money pours in.
- The starting price (SP) is the official price at the moment the race begins. It’s the same figure whichever bookmaker you use.
- A winner is paid at whichever price is bigger. If your 4/1 horse goes off at 6/1, you get £60 profit plus your £10 stake back, instead of £40 plus £10.
Example: With a steamer, you take 4/1, the SP is 3/1, and you’re still paid at 4/1 because the early price was bigger.
Every step after the second happens without you, which is why best odds guaranteed horse racing bets need no action at the off; the only decision that matters is placing the bet after the start time, and best odds guaranteed does the rest.
Best Odds Guaranteed on Multiples and Each Way Bets
Singles are the simple case. Each way bets and multiples are where terms start to differ, and the two parts below cover what usually happens.
Each way bets and the place part
An each way bet is two equal bets in one: one on the horse to win, one on it to finish in the places, which usually means the top 2, 3 or 4 depending on the size of the field. Most bookmakers apply best odds guaranteed each way to both halves, and the place half is paid at a fraction of the winning odds.
Worked example: You bet £5 each way at 8/1, so £10 in total. The horse goes off at 10/1 and finishes second. The win half loses. Assuming the place half pays a fifth of the odds, at 8/1 it pays 8/5, so £8 profit plus your £5 back: £13. With BOG it’s paid at a fifth of 10/1, which is 2/1, so £10 profit plus £5: £15. That’s £2 extra, from a horse that didn’t win.
Doubles, trebles and accumulators
A double is two selections that must both win, a treble is three, and an accumulator (acca) is four or more. Some bookmakers apply best odds guaranteed to every leg of these; others restrict it to singles.
Full-cover bets are the usual exclusion. A Lucky 15 covers 4 selections in 15 bets, a Lucky 31 covers 5 in 31, and a Lucky 63 covers 6 in 63.
BOG on Greyhounds, Overseas Racing, and Other Sports
BOG only works where an official starting price exists. That limits it to racing, and even within racing the coverage narrows outside British and Irish meetings, with the best odds guaranteed sites drawing the line in similar places.
| Market | BOG offered? | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| UK and Irish horse racing | Yes, standard | An official SP is returned for every race |
| Greyhounds | At fewer bookmakers | An SP exists, but fewer firms extend BOG to dogs |
| International racing | Varies | Some countries and tracks are excluded |
| Ante-post | No | Bets placed days or weeks ahead, before the final field is known |
| Football and other sports | No | There’s no official starting price to compare against |
The first row is the core product: best odds guaranteed horse racing on British and Irish tracks is where nearly every offer starts. Best odds guaranteed greyhounds is the second test, and plenty of operators don’t pass it. Overseas meetings depend on the bookmaker’s list of included regions.
Football, tennis, cricket and darts have no BOG equivalent. What exists instead is comparing prices across several bookmakers before you bet, and price boosts, where an operator lengthens the odds on selected outcomes. In-play markets on live betting sites move by the second and carry no SP either.
Best Odds Guaranteed and Rule 4
Rule 4 is the deduction that follows a late withdrawal. When a horse is taken out of a race after betting has opened, the race gets easier for the remaining runners, so winning bets are reduced. The size of the deduction depends on the withdrawn horse’s price: a short-priced favourite pulled out means a bigger cut than an outsider.
Example: You take 5/1 with £10 at 9am. At 1pm the favourite is withdrawn. If the deduction were 20p in the pound, your £50 winnings at the early price would drop to £40.
The starting price works differently. It forms after the withdrawal, so it already reflects the smaller field and carries no deduction of its own. A bet settled at an early price usually takes the Rule 4 cut, while a bet settled at SP doesn’t.
This is where best odds guaranteed horse racing settlement can surprise a beginner. On a day with a late withdrawal, the SP may come out shorter than your early price, yet still produce a similar or better return once the deduction is taken off the early price. Best odds guaranteed sites set out in their terms how the comparison handles the deduction, and the answer differs between operators. A day with several non-runners can make the gap between the two settlements bigger than any normal price move.
Tip: Open the settlement note on your bet after the race. It shows which price was used and what deduction, if any, came off.
The Small Print at Best Odds Guaranteed Bookmakers
Every offer carries conditions, and the same few turn up at most BOG bookmakers. Run through these before the first bet:
- The start time, and whether best odds guaranteed times change for big meetings
- The daily cap on extra winnings
- Whether multiples count, and whether full-cover bets such as a Lucky 15 are excluded
- Whether greyhounds are included
- Whether you have to opt in
- Whether BOG applies to every account or only to selected or eligible customers
- Exclusions for free bets, price boosts, races with extra places and ante-post bets
The last point trips up most people. A free bet, a boosted price or an extra-place race is already a concession, and operators rarely stack BOG on top. Ante-post bets are excluded almost everywhere because the field isn’t settled when you bet.
Eligibility is the quiet one. A few best odds guaranteed sites state plainly that the concession is at their discretion, which means two customers on the same site can see different treatment.
Red flag: A bookmaker can remove BOG from an individual account under its terms, so the concession is never guaranteed for every customer.
Staying in Control
BOG can add to a winning bet, but it doesn’t change the chance of winning. A horse that would lose at 5/1 loses at 8/1 too. Set a budget before the racing starts and use the deposit limits and time-outs that BOG betting sites, like all UKGC-licensed operators, must offer.
GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, free and open 24 hours a day, and GambleAware provides information and support. GamStop excludes you from every UKGC-licensed site for 6 months, 1 year or 5 years. Betting sites not on GamStop sit outside UKGC rules and the UK dispute route. Gambling is for adults aged 18 and over.
Best Odds Guaranteed Sites: Questions Before You Join
Are prices worse at best odds guaranteed sites?
Sometimes, on individual races. A bookmaker carrying the cost of BOG may price a horse slightly shorter in the morning than a rival. Comparing two or three early prices before betting takes a minute and tells you whether the guarantee is protecting a fair price or a mean one.
Is BOG worth having if I always bet at SP?
No. Taking SP means accepting whatever price the horse starts at, so there's nothing to compare against. The point of what is best odds guaranteed lies in taking an early price; without one, the concession adds nothing to your returns.
Does BOG still apply if I cash out?
No. Cash out settles your bet before the race finishes, at a value the bookmaker offers at that moment. Because the bet is closed before the SP is known, the best odds guaranteed has nothing to compare. Operators that offer this tool are grouped under cash out betting sites.
Do BOG times change on big festival days?
They can. Some bookmakers move their start time or alter their cap for the biggest meetings of the year. Treat each festival day as new and check the racing terms that morning rather than assuming the usual time holds.
Can I get BOG on a morning dog race?
Only where the bookmaker offers the best odds guaranteed greyhounds and the race falls after its start time. Many operators that cover dogs run a separate schedule from horse racing, and some exclude certain tracks. The greyhound section of the terms settles it.
Key Points to Remember About BOG
A winning bet placed after the start time is paid at the bigger of your early price and the SP. That’s the whole mechanism. Everything else is small print, and the small print decides the value.
- The start time comes first: an early bet before it gets no protection.
- A daily cap limits what larger stakes can gain.
- Each way bets are usually covered on both halves; multiples and full-cover bets vary.
- Greyhounds and overseas racing are patchy, ante-post is excluded, and other sports have no SP.
- Rule 4 can change which settlement pays more.
- An operator can withdraw BOG from an account under its terms.
Across bookmakers with the best odds guaranteed 2026 terms, the headline promise looks identical while the conditions don’t. Picking among the best odds guaranteed sites comes down to the start time, the cap and what’s excluded, read alongside a licence check and a budget you’ve set in advance.
About the writer
Sports Betting Editor
Mike Brown is the Sports Betting Editor at CaughtOffside. A former tipster and betting syndicate analyst, he writes on odds, bookmaker margins and expected value. He also reviews UK sportsbooks on withdrawals, KYC and promotional terms. He’s based in Manchester.
