If you have arrived here from a list of Best Odds Guaranteed bookmakers, that list is out of date. Plenty of them still are.
This page covers what Star Sports actually offers on racing prices now, how it compares to a standard BOG concession, and whether the trade is a good one for the way you bet.
What Changed
Best Odds Guaranteed pays you at the starting price if it drifts beyond the price you took. It is a blanket concession: every qualifying bet, every race, no selection required on your part.
Star Boosts is the opposite model. Rather than protecting every bet, Star Sports enhances the price on selected runners — chosen by them, published in advance, concentrated on the meetings with the most attention.
| Best Odds Guaranteed | Star Boosts | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Every qualifying bet | Selected runners only |
| Who chooses | You — back anything | The bookmaker |
| When you know the value | At settlement, if it drifted | Before you bet — the price is on the screen |
| Rewards | Taking early prices | Betting the featured races |
| Typical focus | All UK & Irish racing | Featured cards, the big festivals, main weekday meetings |
Neither is automatically better. They reward completely different habits, and that is the honest way to judge the switch.
Who Comes Out Ahead
You lose out if you take early prices across the card. The whole value of BOG is that it pays when a horse you backed at 8/1 goes off at 14/1 — and it does that on any race you fancy, not just the ones a bookmaker has picked out. If that is how you bet, the withdrawal is a straightforward downgrade and you will want an account elsewhere for it.
You may come out ahead if you bet the featured races. A boosted price you can see before you stake is worth more than the possibility of a drift you cannot predict. If you bet the Saturday ITV card and the big festival handicaps rather than a Wednesday evening at Kempton, a concentrated boost can beat a blanket concession.
The catch worth naming. A boost you have to be offered is a boost the bookmaker controls. BOG costs an operator money on exactly the bets they least want to pay out on; a curated boost costs them money on bets they have chosen to promote. That asymmetry is the whole reason the industry is moving this way, and it is fair to weigh it.
What Star Sports Is Actually Good At
Judging this bookmaker on a concession it no longer runs misses the point of it. Star Sports is not built to compete with the high-street chains on promotions.
It has been taking bets since 1999, it started on the rails as an on-course bookmaker, and its reputation is built on two things the big books are worst at: taking a decent-sized bet without limiting you, and a telephone service staffed by people who know racing. The online platform arrived in 2018 and sits alongside that operation rather than replacing it.
It is also, unusually, a British company licensed from a British address — Star Racing Limited, registered in Hove, holding a UK Gambling Commission remote betting licence since 2010. Most UK-facing bookmakers are licensed from Gibraltar or Malta. That matters less than people think for your legal protections, which are identical, but it is a genuine difference.
| Detail | Star Sports |
|---|---|
| Operating company | Star Racing Limited |
| UKGC account | 9177 |
| Licence number | 009177-R-104555-019 |
| Registered office | Star House, Old Shoreham Road, Hove |
| Betting licence held since | July 2010 |
| Trading since | 1999 |
| Best Odds Guaranteed | Withdrawn 1 December 2025 — replaced by Star Boosts |
The Regulatory Record
Star Racing Limited was penalised £594,000 by the Gambling Commission in 2023 over anti-money-laundering and social responsibility failings identified between March 2020 and May 2021. It also received an official warning and additional conditions on its licence.
The AML findings concerned ineffective policies and controls, customers being allowed to deposit large sums before source-of-funds information was obtained, and that information not being properly analysed when it was. The social responsibility findings concerned the effectiveness of customer interactions.
What it means for you. The case was about internal controls, not about paying customers — no part of it concerned settling bets or withholding winnings. As with any bookmaker, set your own deposit limit when you open the account rather than relying on the operator’s monitoring to notice a problem on your behalf.
Star Sports Best Odds Guaranteed FAQs
Does Star Sports still do Best Odds Guaranteed?
No. Star Sports removed Best Odds Guaranteed on 1 December 2025, a date stated in its own betting rules. Star Boosts replaced it — a product that enhances prices on selected runners rather than protecting every bet against a drift. Any list still showing Star Sports as a BOG bookmaker is out of date, and there are a lot of them: the old BOG terms are still published underneath the removal notice on Star Sports’ own rules page, which is where the confusion comes from.
What are Star Boosts?
Enhanced prices on runners chosen by Star Sports, published before the race and concentrated on featured cards and the big meetings. You see the improved price before you stake, rather than finding out at settlement whether a drift paid you extra.
Is Star Boosts better or worse than Best Odds Guaranteed?
It depends how you bet. If you take early prices across a range of races, a blanket BOG concession is worth more, because it pays on any drift rather than only on runners the bookmaker has selected. If you concentrate on featured races, a visible boost you can see before staking can be worth more than the chance of a drift.
Which UK bookmakers still offer Best Odds Guaranteed?
Plenty still do, though several have added restrictions on the biggest racing days. QuinnBet runs it on every UK and Irish meeting with no festival exclusions. Before a festival it is worth reading the racing terms at any book you hold, because those terms change.
Who owns Star Sports?
Star Sports is operated by Star Racing Limited, a UK company registered in Hove holding UK Gambling Commission account 9177. It was founded in 1999 as an on-course bookmaking operation and has held a remote betting licence since 2010.
Betting with Star Sports Bet £40 Get £20 in Free Bets · Code BET40GET20 · New customers only · 18+ T&Cs apply18+. {{PASTE THE FULL SIGNIFICANT TERMS VERBATIM FROM YOUR OFFER PAGE – DO NOT PARAPHRASE}} BeGambleAware.org
Read Next
QuinnBet Best Odds Guaranteed — a book that still runs it on every meeting.
BOG bookmakers — every UK book offering it, and what each one excludes.
Best Odds Guaranteed explained — when the concession pays and when it does nothing.
A boosted price improves a bet you were going to place anyway. It is not a reason to place more of them, and chasing boosted runners you would not otherwise have backed is how a concession costs you money rather than saving it.
Gambling should be entertainment, never a way to make money or handle stress. If gambling is causing you concern, contact BeGambleAware.org or call the National Gambling Helpline free on 0808 8020 133. You can self-exclude from every UK gambling site at once via GAMSTOP.
Licence details verified against the Gambling Commission public register, account 9177, on 28 September 2026. Bookmaker concessions change — we re-check this page before each major festival.
