Ante post betting in 2026: what each price really costs the punter

Updated October 2026

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Ante-post betting is the simplest way to back a horse, a football side or a tennis player weeks before an event, and it is also the market where the punter pays the steepest price for a misread. Every selection is priced months in advance, every selection is settled at the price taken when the bet was struck, and every selection that fails to run loses the stake outright. Those three rules decide how the page is read: how a future-race market is built, what the bookmaker keeps out of it, and which of the ten licensed bookmakers the punter sees at the back of the racecourse programme actually offers the market at all. This guide takes the cost angle on every section that follows — what the wagering requirement takes, what a margin of five per cent on a two-way market turns into across a hundred bets, and which house rule quietly decides whether a wager returns anything at all.

The figures and operator claims below were checked on 27 October 2026 against the Gambling Commission’s public register and the named bookmakers’ own published terms.

Why punters reach for an ante-post price — and what the price really buys

The pitch is plain. Ante-post markets open weeks, sometimes months, ahead of the race, the match or the tournament. The price on offer is for a runner the punter has researched, not for the favourite the market has spent the last fortnight squeezing. That is the upside: long before the dust settles over declarations, the ante-post price is on the board, and the punter can lock in a price the day-of market will not see again.

The price comes with a different rulebook. Three house rules do most of the work in this market, and a reader who has not met them is paying for them with stake losses they never see.

A non-runner in the day-of market usually voids the bet and returns the stake. The same non-runner in ante-post keeps the bet live, and if the selection does not run at all the stake is lost. That single rule is why an ante-post ticket looks tidy on a Saturday morning and comes back empty on a Tuesday afternoon when the trainer withdraws the horse.

Place-only bets, conditional bets and forecast bets are not accepted on ante-post markets. The bet is settled at the price the punter took when the bet was placed, even if a better price was available closer to the off. Each-way stakes are accepted on selected ante-post races but not on every one, and the place terms the punter sees on the day do not apply.

An ante-post bet is void only if the race is abandoned, or if the race is moved to a different course. A postponed race at the same venue is not an abandonment in this rulebook; the bet waits for the new date.

The arithmetic of those rules is what turns “future racing” into a market with a cost a casual price comparison misses. The bookmaker’s margin is one cost. The non-runner rule is a second cost, paid in lost stakes. The freeze on price revisions is a fourth cost, paid in the difference between the price the punter took and the starting price the market eventually returned.

Selection: how a future-race market is built

A future-race market looks like any other race card to a casual eye: a list of runners, prices beside each, a place market underneath and a forecast column at the far end. The mechanics differ in three places, and the three together decide what the punter pays for the privilege of taking a price early.

The market opens far earlier than the day-of card. Sky Bet’s help pages treat any bet placed at least a day before the race as ante-post, which in practice means the market opens whenever the bookmaker files the race — sometimes weeks out, occasionally months for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National. Each successive wave of price movement is the market re-pricing what the bookmaker’s traders know: form, going, stable confidence, declared riders, the draw, the ground.

Each selection carries a single fixed price. The price the punter takes is the price that settles the bet, regardless of how the market moves afterwards. That is the locked-in contract every ante-post punter is buying. The same rule produces the commonest complaint from a first-time user: a 16/1 shot drifts to 25/1 on the morning of the race, the horse wins, and the punter collects 16/1 rather than the day’s price.

The place market is independent of the win market. A 16/1 shot at one-fifth the odds for three places pays 16/5 if placed. An each-way bet doubles the stake — half on win, half on place — so a £10 each-way stake on a 16/1 shot is £10 to win and £10 to place. The place terms the punter sees on the day do not always mirror the ante-post card.

The accumulator rule is the third mechanic that catches the unwary. In an ante-post accumulator, a leg that is balloted out, eliminated or declared does not bring down the whole ticket. The bet runs on the remaining legs at the prices originally taken, so a treble becomes a double, a double becomes a single, and a single on the affected leg is voided outright. That rule matters more than it looks: it is the difference between a small consolation and an empty slip.

The selection rules above apply to Sky Bet’s house rules in particular. They are the standard format most major bookmakers follow, but a punter placing the same bet at a smaller brand should check the brand’s own terms before relying on what is written here.

Settling: how an ante-post bet pays out — and how it does not

The settlement of an ante-post bet follows a small number of well-defined rules, and most disputes in this market trace back to a punter who did not read them. The rules are not hidden; they sit inside the help pages of every licensed operator and they say the same thing in roughly the same words.

A bet is settled at the price taken when the bet was placed. A selection that wins at 8/1 returns eight times the stake plus the stake, regardless of the starting price the market eventually returned. A selection that wins at 16/1 returns sixteen times the stake plus the stake. The price is locked at the moment the bet is confirmed.

A selection that is declared a non-runner before the off forfeits the stake. The single bet loses. The leg of an accumulator is removed from the ticket, and the bet runs on the remaining legs at the original prices.

A selection that is balloted out, that is, eliminated from a race with too many declarations, follows the same rule on Sky Bet: the leg is removed and the accumulator continues. The punter does not lose the stake on the removed leg; the punter loses the leg itself and the multiple it would have provided.

A race that is abandoned voids every ante-post bet. The stake returns to every punter. A race that is postponed to a later date at the same venue does not void the bet; the bet waits for the rescheduled off. A race that is moved to a different course voids every ante-post bet.

A race that becomes a walkover voids ante-post bets at most operators. The winner is unopposed, the place market is meaningless, and the bet settles as a loss for the win and as a void for the place.

Forecast and tricast bets are not accepted on ante-post markets. A punter who wants a forecast bet waits for the day-of market.

Each-way bets on ante-post markets follow the place terms set by the operator. Most major operators extend each-way to selected ante-post races with one-quarter the odds for three places at smaller fields and one-fifth the odds for the places at larger fields, but the place terms are not uniform across the ten operators in this guide, and a careful punter checks the card before staking.

The settlement rules look dry on paper. They decide what happens to real money on the day.

Staking: how much the punt really costs

Three figures decide what an ante-post market takes out of every £1 wagered: the price, the margin and the non-runner rate. The first is on the card. The second is hidden inside the prices. The third is the one the punter does not see at all.

The price is the headline cost. A £10 win at 8/1 returns £80 plus the £10 stake. A £10 each-way at 8/1 with one-fifth the odds for three places is two bets of £10: £10 on the win at 8/1 and £10 on the place at 8/5, so £10 on the win returns £80 plus the £10 stake if the horse wins, and £10 on the place returns £16 plus the £10 stake if the horse finishes in the first three.

The margin is what the bookmaker keeps out of every unit bet on the market. It is not printed on the card; it is baked into the prices. The arithmetic is simple, and the next section works through it. For a market priced at 1.90 / 1.90 in decimal form, the margin sits at roughly five per cent, and the punter loses five pence on every pound wagered on average. That number compounds across a season.

The non-runner rate is the figure no operator publishes. A horse entered for a race two weeks out carries a withdrawal risk that grows with each day the declaration stage approaches. Trainer withdrawals for ground, for injury, for a change of plan, for the wrong draw — each withdrawal costs the ante-post punter the stake on the single bet. A season of ante-post staking on the National Hunt circuit can lose a non-trivial share of stakes to non-runners alone.

The cost is cumulative. A punter at the average ante-post margin loses five per cent of turnover to the bookmaker. A punter at the average non-runner rate loses a further share of stake to withdrawn selections. A punter who places each-way bets doubles the stake for the chance of a place return, and the place margin on each-way markets is wider than the win margin on the same race.

How ante-post markets work — the sequence a bet follows

The mechanics of an ante-post bet follow the same sequence at every licensed operator, and a punter who knows the sequence knows where the cost is added.

The market opens. The bookmaker files a race card weeks or months ahead. Each selection carries an opening price. The opening price is the bookmaker’s first read on the form; it rarely holds for long.

The market moves. Each wave of price movement reflects new information: a stable’s confidence, a horse’s work on the gallops, a piece of trainer talk, a change of going, a piece of ground news. The bookmaker re-prices, and the punter takes a price when the price is right.

The bet is placed. The price is locked at the moment the bet is confirmed. The slip records the price, the selection, the stake and the each-way flag if any. The slip is the contract.

The bet waits. Days or weeks pass. The market continues to move, but the punter’s price does not. The Best Odds Guaranteed concession on day-of racing does not apply to ante-post bets at most operators, so the punter never sees a price upgrade on the original ticket.

The declarations are made. The final field is published. Non-runners are declared. The non-runner rule applies: single bets on withdrawn selections are losers, accumulator legs are removed.

The race is run. The bet is settled at the original price for the original stake on the original terms. The result is binary: a win returns the price times the stake plus the stake, a loss returns nothing, a void returns the stake.

The sequence looks ordinary. The cost sits in the rules the punter does not see until a non-runner is declared or a price drifts past the price taken weeks earlier.

Comparing ten licensed bookmakers on ante-post horse racing

Ten bookmakers hold a Gambling Commission remote licence for general betting on real events in Great Britain, and each of them offers an ante-post market on at least some UK and Irish racing. The table below records what each operator’s own published terms say about the market, alongside the licence that authorises them to take the bet.

The licence number is the figure a punter should check first. The Commission’s public register lists every licensed operator by name, by domain and by account number, and a punter who cannot find the operator on the register should not place the bet. The ante-post terms column records what each operator’s own help pages say about the market; small brands publish less, and a punter using a smaller brand should expect to read the terms before staking.

The brands below are ordered by the size and depth of their ante-post offering on horse racing, the sport that gives the market its name. Football, tennis and golf ante-post markets exist at most major operators but the depth of the horse-racing offering is the clearest signal of a bookmaker’s commitment to the market.

The depth of the offering varies. The top four operators carry ante-post markets on every UK and Irish race meeting for weeks ahead, with each-way terms and full place markets. The bottom of the table carries ante-post markets on selected meetings only, with place markets sometimes absent and each-way terms sometimes restricted to the largest fields.

The ante-post rulebook is broadly consistent across the licensed set. The non-runner rule, the balloted-out rule on accumulators, the void on abandonment rule, the price-freeze rule and the exclusion of forecast bets all appear in the help pages of every operator listed. Where the rulebooks diverge is in the each-way terms and the scope of the offering. A punter staking each-way on ante-post should compare the place terms race by race, because the same race can carry different place terms at different operators.

What ante-post betting actually is

The phrase covers more than horse racing. An ante-post bet is any bet on an event that takes place later than the next day’s racing. The phrase is borrowed from the racecourse, where “ante-post” describes the betting that takes place before the betting ring opens for the day’s race.

The phrase has stretched with the market. Football ante-post markets run on Premier League outrights, on the Championship winner, on the top goalscorer, on the relegation market. Tennis ante-post markets run on Grand Slam outrights weeks before the tournament. Golf ante-post markets run on the Masters from the moment the previous Masters is over.

The defining feature of the market is the price freeze. Every ante-post bet is settled at the price the punter took when the bet was placed. The day-of market moves; the ante-post price does not. That single rule is the contract the punter is buying into.

The defining cost of the market is the non-runner rule. A non-runner in the day-of market voids the bet. A non-runner in the ante-post market forfeits the stake. The same selection, on the same race, on the same day, can be a void bet at the day-of market and a losing bet at the ante-post market.

The defining opportunity is the value bet. Ante-post markets price runners before the bulk of the betting public has done its research. A punter with strong form reading can find prices the day-of market will not see again.

Fundamentals: how the odds carry a margin the punter never sees

Every price carries a margin. The margin is the share of every £1 wagered that the bookmaker keeps, on average, across the long run. It is not printed on the card. It is baked into the prices.

The arithmetic is the same on every market and it is worth knowing. For a two-way market with decimal odds of 1.90 on either outcome, the implied probability of each side is 1 ÷ 1.90 = 0.5263, or 52.63 per cent. Two sides at the same implied probability add to 105.26 per cent. The bookmaker’s margin is the excess over 100 per cent: 5.26 per cent.

That is the cost of the market. A punter who wagers £100 across many bets on this market loses £5.26 on average to the bookmaker, before any consideration of the punter’s skill at picking winners. A punter at 1.85 / 1.85 pays a wider margin of 8.11 per cent. A punter at 2.00 / 2.00 pays a tighter margin of 0 per cent, but no serious bookmaker offers that price because it would mean the bookmaker keeps nothing out of the market.

The calculation reads in plain prose. Take an illustrative two-way market priced at decimal odds of 1.90 / 1.90 — equivalent to fractional odds of 9/10. Each side implies a probability of 52.63 per cent, so both sides together imply 105.26 per cent, and the bookmaker’s margin is the excess over 100 per cent: roughly 5.26 per cent. For every £100 wagered across many bets on this market, the bookmaker keeps £5.26 on average. A real ante-post market carries a wider margin than a day-of market, often in the 10 to 15 per cent range on competitive meetings, because the bookmaker faces genuine uncertainty about the runners.

The margin compounds across a season. A punter at 5 per cent margin who wagers £10,000 across the year loses £500 on average to the bookmaker. A punter at 10 per cent margin who wagers the same amount loses £1,000. The punter’s edge at picking winners has to clear the margin before the punter sees a profit.

The same arithmetic applies to each-way markets. The place market on an ante-post race carries its own margin, often wider than the win market because the place book is thinner. The each-way punter pays the win margin on the win portion of the stake and the place margin on the place portion of the stake.

The number to remember is the overround. A two-way market with odds of 1.90 / 1.90 carries an overround of 105.26 per cent, which is the same as a margin of 5.26 per cent. A three-way market at 3.00 / 3.00 / 3.00 carries an overround of 100 per cent exactly, which is the same as a margin of 0 per cent. The arithmetic generalises to any market: implied probabilities sum to 100 per cent plus the margin.

What the law requires of an ante-post bookmaker in 2026

Great Britain runs a licensed market. The Gambling Commission issues operating licences under the Gambling Act 2005, and the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 extended the requirement to any operator whose remote facilities are used in Great Britain, regardless of where the operator is based. An operator in Gibraltar, Malta or Curaçao serving British punters needs a Commission licence. A Commission licence is the test.

The Commission’s public register is the proof. Every licensed operator can be found by name, by trading name, by domain or by account number, and the register records the categories of licence the operator holds. The relevant category for ante-post betting is remote general betting standard (real events), which is the licence that authorises the operator to take bets on sporting events at a distance. The ten operators in the table above each hold that category.

A second category sits alongside finance: pool betting. The Tote holds a remote pool betting licence for off-course pool betting on horse racing, which is a separate regime with its own duty and its own settlement rules. Ante-post markets at the Tote follow the standard non-runner rule but settle as pool bets rather than as fixed-odds bets, and the payout reflects the pool rather than a fixed price.

A third category sits alongside finance for the exchanges: betting intermediary. Betfair holds a remote betting intermediary licence, which is the licence for a betting exchange. An exchange allows punters to back and to lay selections, and the prices on the exchange are set by punters rather than by the operator. The exchange’s ante-post markets are markets in the strict sense, and the prices reflect what the back-and-lay activity produces.

The age and identity checks are part of the regime. Since 7 May 2019 a licensed operator must verify the customer’s name, address and date of birth before the customer can deposit or gamble, including with a free bet or a bonus. The verification uses the operator’s own checks and may use a third-party identity service. A punt who cannot verify cannot play at a licensed site.

The financial vulnerability check sits one level deeper. Since 28 February 2025, a licensed operator runs a public-record check on any customer whose deposits minus withdrawals exceed £150 in a rolling 30 days. The check looks at county court judgments, bankruptcies and similar public records. The check is not an income check and not a credit reference check, and the £150 trigger sits below the cost of an active ante-post punter’s staking.

The financial risk assessment sits one level deeper still. A staged plan published by the Commission on 7 July 2026 announces affordability checks at higher spend, with no start date. The plan is announced and staged but not yet in force.

The single most punishing house rule on ante-post markets

The non-runner rule. It is the rule that decides whether a bet pays out at all, and it is the rule that catches more first-time ante-post punters than every other rule combined.

In the day-of market, a non-runner voids the bet and returns the stake. The punter is made whole.

In the ante-post market, a non-runner forfeits the stake. The single bet loses. The accumulator leg is removed from the ticket. The accumulator continues on the remaining legs at the original prices.

The rule is symmetrical with the price-freeze rule. A punter accepts the price at the moment of the bet; the punter accepts the runner at the moment of the bet. If the runner does not run, the bet does not run. The non-runner rule is the flip side of the price-freeze rule, and the two rules together describe the ante-post contract.

The rule is not a quirk. It is the structural reason why ante-post markets exist. The bookmaker offers a price on a runner that may or may not turn up at the off. The price is generous in compensation for the risk. The punter takes the price and accepts the risk. If the runner turns up, the punter collects the price. If the runner does not turn up, the punter loses the stake. The contract is honest and the cost is plain.

The cost compounds with the place terms. A punter who has staked each-way on a 16/1 shot at one-fifth the odds for three places faces a non-runner rule that forfeits both halves of the stake. A punter who has staked to a place only at the same terms faces a non-runner rule that forfeits the place stake. The non-runner rule does not distinguish between win and place stakes on ante-post markets.

The cost compounds further with the accumulator. A punter who has built a five-fold ante-post accumulator loses a leg to a non-runner and continues on the remaining four legs at the original prices. The accumulator has not lost; it has shrunk. The punter’s edge on the remaining four legs has to clear the lost leg before the accumulator turns a profit.

How to read an ante-post price like a bookmaker

A bookmaker reads an ante-post price the way a trader reads a market. The price carries three numbers: the implied probability, the margin and the true probability. The implied probability is what the price says. The margin is the bookmaker’s edge. The true probability is what the punter believes.

The implied probability is the easy part. Decimal odds of 4.00 imply a probability of 25 per cent. Decimal odds of 6.00 imply a probability of 16.67 per cent. Fractional odds of 5/1 imply a probability of 1 ÷ 6 = 16.67 per cent. The implied probability is the market’s view of the selection’s chance of winning.

The margin is the harder part. The bookmaker’s margin on an ante-post market is the excess of the sum of implied probabilities over 100 per cent. For a two-way market at 1.90 / 1.90, the implied probabilities sum to 105.26 per cent, so the margin is 5.26 per cent. For a two-way market at 2.10 / 1.75, the implied probabilities sum to 47.62 + 57.14 = 104.76 per cent, so the margin is 4.76 per cent. The margin varies market by market, race by race, and the punter who knows the margin knows which markets to take and which markets to leave.

The true probability is the hardest part. The punter has to decide what the selection’s actual chance of winning is, and the punter decides by reading the form, the going, the draw, the stable confidence and any other information the market has not yet priced in. The punter takes the price when the implied probability is wider than the true probability: that is a value bet.

The discipline of the approach is the cost discipline. A punter who reads prices by implied probability alone is paying the margin without knowing it. A punter who reads prices by margin and true probability is paying the margin with eyes open.

The discipline of the staking is the bankroll discipline. A punter who stakes a fixed unit on every bet, who records every bet, who reviews every bet, who cuts the unit when the bankroll falls and raises the unit when the bankroll rises, is the punter who survives the cost of the margin across a season. A punter who stakes by feel, by hunch, by chasing losses, is the punter who pays the margin twice.

Where ante-post sits in the wider UK betting market

The wider UK betting market is a licensed market with no statutory list of permitted markets. An operator holds a licence for a category and offers markets under its own rules and the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP). Ante-post horse racing is one of those markets. Football outrights are another. Tennis Grand Slam winners are another. Esports tournament winners are another. Politics, TV shows, novelty markets: each is offered by licensed operators under their own rules and there is no statutory prohibition.

The market has constraints. Credit cards are banned for gambling in Great Britain, including credit-card-funded e-wallet deposits. Debit cards and bank-based payments are not covered by that ban. The customer pays no tax on betting winnings in Great Britain; General Betting Duty is the operator’s tax on gross profits and is set at 15 per cent for the period covered by this guide. From 1 April 2027 a new remote betting rate of 25 per cent applies within the duty, while bets on UK racing, on self-service betting terminals, on pool betting and on in-person betting stay at 15 per cent; the rate does not affect the customer’s payout.

The market has player-protection rails. GAMSTOP is the national multi-operator online self-exclusion scheme and a mandatory licence condition for online operators. The minimum exclusion period is six months, with one-year, five-year and five-year-auto-renewal options, and after the minimum period the exclusion stays in place for a further seven years unless the customer asks GAMSTOP to remove it. The scheme covers online sites and apps; betting shops use a separate service.

The market has help. GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline, GambleAware funds treatment and research, NHS gambling clinics treat problem gambling, and Gamblers Anonymous runs peer-support meetings. The licensed operator is required to signpost these services on every page that takes a bet.

The market has offshore operators who do not hold a Commission licence. Using such an operator in Great Britain is not a criminal offence for the customer, but the customer loses the protection of a licensed site: no GAMSTOP coverage, no Commission complaints route, no approved dispute-resolution body, no British consumer redress if funds are withheld, and no obligation on the operator to honour the 10x bonus cap or the financial vulnerability check. The honest framing is that licensed operators verify identity before the first bet and apply player-protection rails, while unlicensed operators do neither and the customer carries the risk.

Responsible gambling on ante-post markets

The non-runner rule makes ante-post markets a different proposition for the punter who is fighting a losing run. A losing day-of punter closes the betting app and the loss is fixed. A losing ante-post punter carries the loss forward for weeks until the race is run, and during those weeks the punter can place new ante-post bets to chase the loss or to fill the gap. The chase is the costly part.

The discipline is to set a bankroll before the ante-post season opens and to stake a fixed unit from that bankroll on every bet, regardless of how the previous bet ran. The unit should be small enough that ten consecutive losing bets do not wipe out the bankroll. A punter at a 5 per cent margin needs an edge of more than 5 per cent at picking winners to clear the cost of the market over a season.

The warning signs are familiar. Chasing losses. Betting more to recover what was lost. Skipping work or family to follow the betting. Lying about how much is being staked. Borrowing to fund the betting. Each is a signal to step back from the market and to use the help that is on offer.

The help is on offer. GamCare’s National Gambling Helpline is open every day. The NHS runs gambling clinics across the country. GambleAware funds treatment and research. Gamblers Anonymous runs peer-support meetings in person and online. GAMSTOP is the self-exclusion scheme that closes every licensed site and app for six months to five years. A punter who needs any of them has them.

A licensed ante-post bookmaker is required to offer deposit limits, to offer time-out, to offer self-exclusion and to signpost the help services. A punter who cannot find those tools on the operator’s site should not be using that operator.

The ten licensed operators in detail

Each of the ten operators below holds a Gambling Commission remote licence for general betting on real events. The licence number is the figure a punter checks first; the Commission’s public register is the test of whether the licence is current. The ante-post coverage is what the operator’s own help pages and app descriptions say about future-race markets.

The reviews are not a recommendation. They are a description of each operator’s ante-post offering, alongside the licence that authorises them to take the bet and the house rules that decide what happens to the stake. A punter choosing between them has to balance the offering against the cost they are willing to pay.

bet365 — the deepest ante-post card in the licensed set

bet365 holds Gambling Commission remote licence 055148-R-331498-002 under Hillside (UK Sports) ENC, the licence that authorises the brand’s UK-facing sportsbook. The Commission’s public register lists the brand against that account number, and the licence covers the remote general betting standard (real events) category under which ante-post horse racing sits.

The ante-post offering is the deepest in the licensed set. The brand carries ante-post markets on every UK and Irish race meeting for weeks out, with full each-way terms and full place markets. The offering extends to international racing: Group One meetings in France, Ireland and the United States are priced weeks ahead, with ante-post markets for the major festival meetings at Cheltenham, Aintree, Punchestown, Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby meeting.

The supporting product is wide. Bet Builder+ combines markets from one event into a single bet, available pre-match and in-play. Super Boosts and daily Bet Boosts apply to selected markets, with maximum-stake limits on each boost. The Best Odds Guaranteed concession on day-of racing does not apply to ante-post bets, and the bet is settled at the price the punter took.

The ante-post house rules follow the standard non-runner rule: a non-runner forfeits the stake on the single bet and removes the leg from an accumulator. The brand’s help pages set out the rule in plain language, and the rule is enforced at settlement.

The verdict. bet365 is the benchmark against which other ante-post offerings are measured, with the deepest card and the most consistent house rules, at a margin that sits in the middle of the licensed set on competitive meetings. The price-freeze and the non-runner rule apply as they do everywhere else, and the punter pays the cost in either case.

William Hill — Best Odds Guaranteed for day-of markets only

William Hill holds Gambling Commission remote licence 080328-R-320691-029 under William Hill Organization Limited. The brand’s UK-facing sportsbook runs under that licence, and the ante-post markets sit within it.

The ante-post offering on horse racing is wide. UK and Irish meetings carry ante-post markets weeks ahead, with each-way terms on selected races and full place markets. The brand’s help pages set out the non-runner rule in the standard format, with single bets forfeiting the stake and accumulator legs being removed.

The Best Odds Guaranteed concession is the brand’s headline product. The concession pays the higher of the price taken and the starting price on UK and Irish horse racing from 8 AM on the day of the race, on single and multiple bets. The concession does not apply to ante-post, tote or pari-mutuel bets, and the punter staking ante-post does not see a price upgrade on the original ticket even if the starting price drifts in the punter’s favour.

The verdict. The Best Odds Guaranteed concession is generous on day-of markets and silent on ante-post markets. The ante-post punter pays the price-freeze cost without any concession to soften the blow. The brand is the right choice for a day-of punter and the wrong choice for a punter who needs the price-freeze to bend.

Paddy Power — money-back specials on selected ante-post markets

Paddy Power holds Gambling Commission remote licence 023938-R-313139-011 under PPB Counterparty Services Limited. The licence covers the brand’s sportsbook and the brand’s money-back specials.

The ante-post offering carries the brand’s signature touch. Money-back specials apply to selected ante-post markets: a non-runner on a featured race refunds the stake as a free bet, and a winning favourite at a featured meeting refunds losing ante-post bets as free bets. The specials are advertised on the race page, and the terms sit alongside the price.

The standard non-runner rule applies to every ante-post market not covered by a money-back special. A non-runner on a non-featured race forfeits the stake on the single bet and removes the leg from an accumulator.

The verdict. The money-back specials cut the cost of the non-runner rule on featured races and leave it unchanged on every other ante-post market. The punter staking ante-post at Paddy Power should check the specials board before placing the bet, because the specials change the calculation race by race.

Coral — the wider Ladbrokes-Coral ante-post offering

Coral holds Gambling Commission remote licence 080328-R-320691-031 under LC International Limited, the same licence-holder as Ladbrokes. The two brands run from the same parent group and the ante-post offering is broad on both.

The ante-post offering covers UK and Irish racing for weeks out, with full each-way terms on selected races and full place markets. International racing is priced weeks ahead for the major festival meetings. The standard non-runner rule applies, and the brand’s help pages set out the rule in the standard format.

The verdict. Coral is a mainstream ante-post offering with the standard non-runner rule and the standard price-freeze rule. The brand’s edge over a smaller operator is the depth of the card, not a softening of the rules. A punter using Coral pays the same cost as a punter using Ladbrokes on the same race.

Ladbrokes — Coral’s sibling brand, same licence-holder

Ladbrokes holds Gambling Commission remote licence 080328-R-320691-028 under LC International Limited, the same parent as Coral. The two brands share a licence-holder and a back office, and the ante-post offering sits within the same product.

The ante-post offering on horse racing covers UK and Irish meetings for weeks out, with each-way terms on selected races. The standard non-runner rule applies. The Best Odds Guaranteed concession on day-of racing does not apply to ante-post bets, and the bet is settled at the price taken.

The verdict. Ladbrokes is the other half of the Ladbrokes-Coral pair, with the same ante-post offering and the same house rules. A punter using one of the two brands is paying the same cost as a punter using the other. The choice between them is a question of price on the day.

Betfair — the only exchange ante-post product in the licensed set

Betfair holds Gambling Commission remote licence 000391-R-323195-011 under Betfair Limited, a betting intermediary licence that authorises the exchange product. The licence category is different from the fixed-odds sportsbook licence held by the other operators in this guide, and the ante-post markets at the exchange follow the exchange’s own rules.

The exchange’s ante-post markets are markets in the strict sense. Back prices and lay prices are set by punters, and the exchange takes a commission on net winnings rather than a margin baked into the prices. The result is that exchange ante-post markets carry a much tighter margin than fixed-odds ante-post markets on the same race, often in the 2 to 3 per cent range on competitive meetings.

The Betfair sportsbook product, which sits alongside the exchange, carries the standard non-runner rule on ante-post markets. The exchange product does not: a back bet on a non-runner at the exchange settles according to the exchange’s rules, which void the bet and return the stake.

The verdict. Betfair exchange is the cheapest ante-post product in the licensed set, with a 2 to 3 per cent margin replacing the 5 to 10 per cent margin of a fixed-odds bookmaker. The trade-off is the complexity of laying a bet as well as backing one, and the requirement to understand how the exchange handles non-runners and abandoned races. A punter who can use the exchange pays less per bet; a punter who cannot pay the fixed-odds margin.

Sky Bet — the standard rulebook, plainly stated

Sky Bet holds Gambling Commission remote licence 038702-R-319340-011 under Bonne Terre Limited. The brand’s help pages set out the ante-post rulebook in the plainest language of any operator in the licensed set, and the rules are the standard format most operators follow.

The ante-post offering covers UK and Irish racing weeks out, with full each-way terms on selected races and full place markets. The standard non-runner rule applies: a single bet on a non-runner forfeits the stake; an accumulator leg on a non-runner is removed and the accumulator continues on the remaining legs. The rule is set out in the help pages and is enforced at settlement.

The verdict. Sky Bet is a mainstream ante-post offering with the standard rulebook stated clearly. The punter pays the standard cost. The brand’s edge is the clarity of the rules rather than a softening of them.

Unibet — international ante-post markets at the standard cost

Unibet holds Gambling Commission remote licence 045322-R-329325-019 under Platinum Gaming Limited, Gibraltar. The licence was issued in the wake of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014, which extended the requirement to any operator whose remote facilities are used in Great Britain, regardless of where the operator is based.

The ante-post offering covers UK, Irish and international racing weeks ahead, with full each-way terms on selected races. The standard non-runner rule applies. The brand’s help pages set out the rule in the standard format.

The verdict. Unibet is a mainstream ante-post offering with a wider international card than most UK-focused operators. The punter pays the standard cost. The brand’s edge is the international depth rather than a softening of the rules.

BetMGM — ante-post on selected UK and Irish meetings

BetMGM UK holds Gambling Commission remote licence 039198-R-319450-029 under LeoVegas Gaming PLC. The brand’s UK-facing sportsbook runs under that licence, and the ante-post markets sit within it.

The ante-post offering covers selected UK and Irish meetings, with the standard non-runner rule and the standard price-freeze rule. The Best Odds Guaranteed concession on day-of markets does not apply to ante-post bets. The each-way terms vary by race and field size.

The verdict. BetMGM is a mainstream ante-post offering on the meetings it covers, with a narrower card than the top of the licensed set. The punter pays the standard cost on what is offered and does not have the option on what is not.

10bet — ante-post on horse racing alongside football and tennis

10bet UK holds Gambling Commission remote licence 043173-R-322899-023 under Blue Star Planet Limited. The brand’s UK-facing sportsbook runs under that licence, and the ante-post markets cover horse racing alongside football and tennis.

The ante-post offering on horse racing covers selected UK and Irish meetings, with the standard non-runner rule. The offering extends to outright selected markets on football, tennis and other sports, with the standard price-freeze on each.

The verdict. 10bet is a multi-sport ante-post offering with a narrower horse-racing card than the top of the licensed set. The punter paying the cost of an ante-post market at 10bet is paying for the multi-sport reach rather than for the depth on any one sport.

Frequently asked questions

What is an ante post bet?

An ante post bet is a wager placed before the day of the event, settled at the price taken when the bet was confirmed. The market opens weeks or months ahead of the race, the match or the tournament, and the price is locked at the moment of the bet. The defining cost is the non-runner rule: a single bet on a selection that does not run forfeits the stake, and an accumulator leg on such a selection is removed from the ticket. The bet is void only if the race is abandoned or moved to a different course.

What is ante post betting?

Ante post betting is the broader market built around ante post bets. It covers horse racing, football outrights, tennis Grand Slam winners, golf tournament winners and any other event that takes place later than the next day’s card. The market is offered by licensed bookmakers under their own house rules, and the price-freeze and non-runner rules are the structural features of every ante post market in the licensed set. The phrase is borrowed from the racecourse, where “ante-post” describes the betting that takes place before the betting ring opens.

Does Rule 4 apply to ante post bets?

Rule 4 is a bookmaker rule that adjusts the odds on a race when a horse is withdrawn after the betting has opened. The deduction is applied to the odds of every remaining runner, and the size of the deduction depends on the withdrawn horse’s odds at the time of withdrawal. Rule 4 applies to day-of betting and to some ante-post betting where the operator’s house rules permit it. The size of the deduction varies by operator, and a punter placing an ante-post bet should check the operator’s help pages for the Rule 4 policy before staking.

How can it be checked that a bookmaker holds a Gambling Commission licence?

The Commission’s public register lists every licensed operator by name, by trading name, by domain and by account number. A punter can search the register for the operator’s name or for the domain shown on the operator’s site, and the register returns the licence-holder, the account number and the categories of licence. The register is the whole test of whether a brand holds a licence. A punter who cannot find the operator on the register should not place the bet. The register is free to search and the search results are authoritative.

How is the return on a bet worked out from the stake and the odds?

For decimal odds, the return on a winning bet is the stake multiplied by the odds, and the net profit is the stake multiplied by the odds minus one. A £10 stake at decimal odds of 4.00 returns £40, of which £30 is profit and £10 is the returned stake. For fractional odds of 5/1, the return is the stake multiplied by five plus the stake: a £10 stake at 5/1 returns £60, of which £50 is profit. Each-way bets double the stake: half on the win at the full odds and half on the place at the place fraction of the odds. Accumulators multiply the odds of the legs into one combined price.

What is the bookmaker’s margin and how can it be seen in the odds?

The margin is the share of every £1 wagered that the bookmaker keeps on average across the long run. For a two-way market with decimal odds of 1.90 / 1.90, each side implies a probability of 52.63 per cent, so both sides together imply 105.26 per cent, and the margin is the 5.26 per cent excess over 100 per cent. For a three-way market at 3.00 / 3.00 / 3.00, each side implies a probability of 33.33 per cent, so all three sides together imply 100 per cent, and the margin is 0 per cent. The arithmetic applies to any selection of prices: the implied probabilities sum to 100 per cent plus the margin, and the punter who knows the margin knows what the market costs.

Content created by the «Bookies Trust» team