Last updated February 25th, 2021
Best Odds Guaranteed is a concession or promotion offered by some bookmakers that applies to horse and greyhound racing.
It means that when you take an early price or a fixed odds price about your selection for a particular race then if the SP (Starting Price) is greater, you are paid out at the biggest odds.
Here is an example:
- A horse called Frankel is available at 8/1 with the bookmaker on the morning of the race and you place a £10 bet on the colt at those odds. However when the race starts the horse’s odds have drifted to 10/1. Normally you would be ruing the fact you placed your wager early because you are going to be paid out at 8/1 instead of the larger SP of 10/1. However when a bookmaker offers the ‘Best Odds Guaranteed’ concession you will get the bigger 10/1 SP price anyway.
The only nonsense in that example is that Frankel, who retired unbeaten after 14 races, was only ever offered at odds against once and that was on his Newmarket maiden race debut, when he returned at an SP of 7/4. The race looked a mundane affair at the time but Frankel turned out to be the best horse for a century and the second in that little race, Nathaniel, subsequently became a Group 1 champion too.
Anyway back to the point, If you ever back a racehorse or dog then it really does make sense to do it with a bookie, such as Bet365, offering ‘best odds guaranteed’. What it actually means for the punter is great value. The key thing here is that you may as well take the morning price about your selection, even if you think it is fairly miserly, because if it drifts out you will get the bigger SP and if it contracts you have the best price it ever was.
This is a far better promotional offer than any free bet welcome offer could ever be, perhaps with exception of a genuine no deposit bonus (which simply don’t exist anymore). The key to making money as a bettor is to achieve the best available prices on your chosen selections and the ‘best odds guaranteed’ option helps you to do that.