William Hill adjusts Best Odds Guaranteed offer amid rising racing costs

William Hill has adjusted its Best Odds Guaranteed offer so the concession now kicks in at 10am on the day of the race rather than midnight.

The change, which starts from December 1, was made for “commercial reasons”, the operator said.

Racing is facing rising costs across the board, with tracks arguing for data and streaming fees based on turnover rather than fixed costs, which could represent a significant increase.

Betfred yesterday became the first operator to agree to streaming fees based on turnover.

Earlier this year Hills already moved its BOG offer to midnight on the day of the race rather than from when the race was priced.

Best Odds Guaranteed has come under increasing scrutiny at UK operators, with one bookmaker source telling EGR recently the offer was the “root cause” of the industry’s margin crunch.

“Even a guesser struggles to lose more than 5%, so its puts pressure on margins, but if you don’t have BOG you won’t get any recreational business,” the source said.

Another trading exec, when asked whether his firm would drop BOG if they could be assured the rest of the industry followed suit, said: “I think probably everyone would”.

“It’s a very messy situation right now but if the costs of offering racing keep going up then it has to impact on the pricing and concession model,” the trading exec added.

Paddy Power also moved back its BOG offer earlier this year, with the concession now kicking in on 8am the day of the race.