Betfair to axe Best Odds Guaranteed for horseracing and dogs
Flutter Entertainment-owned sportsbook to remove popular concession from 4 July as it points customers towards its Exchange
Betfair is set to remove Best Odds Guaranteed (BOG) across horseracing and greyhound racing on its sportsbook from 4 July.
In an email to customers, the Flutter Entertainment subsidiary confirmed it was dropping BOG – the ubiquitous concession where bookmakers pay out at the starting price (SP) if it turns out to be bigger than the odds when the bet was struck – but did not provide any information as to why the decision had been taken.
The BOG offer will be removed for UK and Ireland customers on greyhound racing, while only Irish punters will see the revocation of the horseracing BOG.
As it stands, Betfair’s BOG offer applies to singles on win and each way singles only, and that any bets that have already been placed will not be impacted by the change.
In the same email, Betfair said: “At Betfair we want to continue rewarding our customers with great promotions such as our free bets plus daily ‘Extra Places’ and ‘Oddsboosts’.
“We know that value is important and our Exchange offers the best value with more ways to bet and more ways to win.
“So far in 2023, the Exchange has the best odds on 96% of horseracing runners and 99.5% of greyhounds.”
According to the Oddschecker, fellow Flutter brands Sky Bet and Paddy Power offer BOG to customers, as does Entain duo Coral and Ladbrokes and online heavyweight bet365.
According to the grid, Star Sports, Spreadex, Sporting Index and 10bet do not offer BOG on horseracing. Most operators no longer offer BOG on horseracing the night before race meetings.
Operators offering BOG on greyhound racing drops off heavily compared to horseracing, with only Paddy Power and bet365, Betfred, BoyleSports and BetUK committed to the concession.
With bookmakers facing rising costs, particularly for media rights and live streaming of horseracing, it has been previously suggested by some voices within the industry that BOG could start to disappear.
Furthermore, bookmakers argue that if horseracing’s betting levy, which is currently 10% of bookmakers’ gross profits, switches to a turnover model, most racing offers could vanish across the board and overrounds increase.
A Betfair spokesperson said: “Betfair has taken the decision to remove ‘best odds guaranteed’ on horseracing for Irish customers and on greyhound racing for UK and Irish customers.
“Our customer proposition is constantly evolving, and we will continue to reward our customers with additional extra place races, money back offers, odds boost, super boosts and more.
“These are just some of the avenues through which our customers can continue to enjoy the benefits of betting on the Betfair Sportsbook, and the Betfair Exchange has had the best odds on 96% of horses so far in 2023.”