By Niamh Gallagher · Last updated November 2026You take 5/1 on a horse at breakfast. By the off, it’s drifted out to 8/1. It wins. Do you get paid at 5/1 or 8/1?
With most bets, you’re stuck with the 5/1 you took. With best odds guaranteed, you get the 8/1. That’s the whole concession in a sentence, and for anyone who bets on racing it’s one of the most useful things a bookie can offer. Here’s how it works, what the small print usually says, and whether it’s worth choosing a bookie over.
BOG in Plain Terms: The Bookie’s Promise on Racing
Best odds guaranteed, usually shortened to BOG, is a promise from the bookie on horse racing, and sometimes greyhounds. If you take a fixed price and the official starting price ends up bigger, they’ll settle your bet at the bigger price.
If the starting price is shorter than the price you took, you keep your original odds. You can’t come out worse than the price on your betslip, which is why it’s called a guarantee. The bookie offers it because it encourages punters to bet early, when the bookie is keen to take money and shape its book.
Starting Price: The Number Set as the Race Begins
To understand BOG, you need to know about the starting price, or SP. The SP is the official price of each runner at the moment the race starts. It’s worked out from the prices on offer in the betting ring at the track just before the off, and every runner gets one, including the ones nobody backed.
Taking a price versus taking SP
When you bet on a race, you’ve two choices. You can take a price, locking in the odds on offer when you bet, say 5/1. Or you can take SP, which means you won’t know your odds until the race starts.
Taking a price is a bet on the market as well as the horse. If your horse gets backed and its price shortens to 3/1, you’ve done well by getting in early. If it drifts out to 8/1, you’d have been better off waiting. BOG removes that second risk entirely, so you keep the upside of an early price without the downside.
Three Ways a €10 BOG Bet Can Settle
Here’s a €10 win bet on a horse you backed at 5/1 in the morning, with BOG in place.
| Price you took | Starting price | Paid at | Return on €10 | Extra from BOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/1 | 8/1 | 8/1 | €90 | €30 |
| 5/1 | 5/1 | 5/1 | €60 | €0 |
| 5/1 | 3/1 | 5/1 | €60 | €0 |
In the first row, the horse drifted and you’re paid at the bigger SP, an extra €30 for doing nothing. In the third row, the horse was heavily backed and went off 3/1, but you keep your 5/1. Without BOG, the first row would only have paid €60, and the third would be exactly the same.
BOG on an each-way bet
BOG usually applies to each-way bets too, with the place part settled at the right fraction of whichever price is bigger. Say you took 5/1, €5 each-way, the race pays 1/5 odds for three places, and the horse goes off 8/1 and finishes second. Without BOG, the place part pays at 1/1, so €5 returns €10. With BOG, it pays at 8/5, so €5 returns €13. A few euro on one bet, but it adds up over a season.
The Small Print Behind the Guarantee
BOG is a genuine concession, but it comes with terms, and they differ from bookie to bookie. These are the ones I’d check first.
Racing only, and usually UK and Irish racing
Most BOG offers cover UK and Irish horse racing and nothing else. Some include greyhounds; plenty don’t. Racing from France, the US or further afield is usually excluded, and it never applies to football, GAA or rugby, where there’s no starting price to compare against.
Morning prices, ante-post and the start time
Some bookies offer BOG on every race from the moment the market opens. Others only apply it from a set time on race day, or only to bets placed on the day itself. Ante-post bets placed days or weeks out are usually not covered. If you like a price the evening before, check whether BOG kicks in at that point or only the next morning.
Caps, withdrawals and Irish inducement rules
There’s often a limit on how much extra BOG will pay per bet or per day. For most everyday stakes it won’t matter, but it’s there. Bookies can also switch BOG off for certain races, bet types or individual accounts. And the Gambling Regulation Act has tightened the rules around offers and inducements in Ireland, so what’s available to Irish punters can differ from what’s advertised elsewhere. Check the terms on your own account rather than assuming. 18+. T&Cs apply.
Who BOG Helps, and Who Can Ignore It
For anyone who bets on racing with any regularity, BOG is worth having. It’s one of the few things in betting where you can’t lose: the worst case is you get the price you took anyway.
It helps most if you like to bet early. Morning prices can be generous, but you carry the risk of a drift. BOG takes that risk away, so you can take the early price with a clear head.
It matters far less if you mostly bet on football, GAA or rugby, and it’s no use at all if you always take SP, because there’s nothing to compare against. When I’m looking at bookies for racing, BOG sits near the top of my list along with streaming and each-way terms. For a wider look at the bookies themselves, my overview of online betting Ireland compares the five I rate side by side.
Getting the Most From BOG on a Big Race Day
- Take the early price when you fancy something. With BOG, there’s no downside to getting in early on race day.
- Read exactly when it starts. “From 8am on race day” and “all UK and Irish races” are very different promises.
- Don’t let it be the only reason you pick a bookie. A bookie with BOG but poor prices can still work out worse than one without it.
- Remember it’s racing only. It won’t help you with a GAA acca on a Sunday.
- Value it most on the big meetings. At Cheltenham, Punchestown or the Galway Races, prices swing a lot, so the guarantee is worth more on those days.
FAQ
What does BOG mean in betting?
BOG stands for Best Odds Guaranteed. If you take a price on a horse and the starting price is bigger, the bookie pays you at the starting price.
Does BOG apply to each-way bets?
Usually, yes. The place part is paid at the agreed fraction of whichever price is bigger, but check your bookie’s terms.
Is the starting price better than taking a price?
Not always. Sometimes the SP is bigger, sometimes smaller. BOG means you get whichever is better, so you don’t have to guess.
Bet with your head and set limits. If you need to talk to someone, visit gamblingcare.ie or ring Gambling Care free on 1800 753 753.