Product
Best Odds Guaranteed
Definition
A horse racing (and sometimes greyhound) concession under which a customer who takes a price is paid at the starting price instead if the starting price is longer. The customer gets the better of the two; the operator gives up the difference.
Key takeaways
- Best odds guaranteed pays a racing bet at the starting price if that is longer than the price taken.
- It pays out most on horses that drifted, so its cost is concentrated on the bets least likely to win.
- Operators manage the cost with defensive early prices, stake and payout caps, and exclusions.
- It is a promotion in regulatory terms and a standard comparison point for affiliates, which makes it hard to drop.
Why it matters
Best odds guaranteed is the most expensive standing promotion in British and Irish racing and the one bookmakers find hardest to withdraw. The customer backs a horse at 4/1 in the morning; if it drifts to 6/1 by the off, the bet is paid at 6/1; if it shortens to 5/2, the bet is paid at the 4/1 taken. The customer can only gain, which is why the concession was introduced in the 2000s as a retail-versus-online battleground and why every serious racing operator was forced to match it.
The cost is real and structural. Horses drift when the market decides they are less likely to win, so the concession pays out most on the bets least likely to succeed, and the operator's early prices, which are its most exposed, are effectively guaranteed against its own later judgement. Racing traders manage the cost by pricing early markets more defensively, by capping the concession (a maximum stake, a maximum payout, or exclusion of certain meetings or in-play bets) and by restricting it to customers whose betting is recreational. It is, alongside stake factoring, one of the two subjects on which racing bettors and bookmakers most often argue.
Regulators in Britain and Ireland treat best odds guaranteed as a promotion, so its terms must be clear and its withdrawal from an individual customer must be handled under the rules on fair treatment; the concession's presence or absence is also a standard line in affiliate comparison tables, which keeps operators from quietly dropping it.
Frequently asked questions
Does best odds guaranteed apply to every bet?
Usually to win and each-way bets placed at a fixed price on the day of the race, with caps on stake or payout and exclusions for in-play bets, certain meetings and some bet types. Terms vary by operator.
Why do bookmakers offer it if it only costs them money?
Because racing customers expect it, competitors offer it and comparison sites list it. Withdrawing it loses racing customers faster than the concession costs.
Is best odds guaranteed available in the United States?
Rarely. American racing is largely pari-mutuel, where there is no fixed price to guarantee, and fixed-odds racing is new and limited in the states that permit it.