What are Enhanced Odds?
Normally, when a bookie sets its price on a certain market, there are three main factors in play. These are:
- Sheer probability
- Competitor prices
- Driving action
With enhanced odds, the third factor takes precedence over the other two. The sportsbook is simply trying to drive action on a certain market, rather than either reflect the probability of an outcome happening, or worrying too much about the odds on other betting sites. They are so committed to driving this action, in fact, that they’re willing to take on a whole lot more risk in order to do so.
As the name suggests, the enhanced odds meaning is that a sportsbook artificially inflates the price on a certain bet. If a market was 6/1 to start with, for example, the bookie will suddenly make it 8/1 instead. You can keep exactly the same stake as before, but a winning wager will now make you significantly more money.
Technically, enhanced odds can apply to singles selections. More often though, they’re used on a multiples wager which the sportsbook has put together itself. This might be a same-game combo, or cover multiple matchups. Either way, the bookie is willing to risk paying out big-time winnings in return for tempting bettors into enticing, but tough-to-win wagers.
A few T&Cs do come attached to enhanced odds, most often limiting the returns you can make on these markets. In general though, these offers are extremely easy to use, while still providing clear and obvious value for punters.
- Stake is the cash you will place on a bet at enhanced odds. Usually, with enhanced odds offer, there is a maximum stake in place, such as £1 or £5. This is to limit the losses for bookies when offering enhanced odds on sports such as football.
- Time limit refers to an important point in the terms and conditions which states your bets must be placed before a certain time, often on the day of the event. For example, if odds have been enhanced on horse racing it will be between 10am and 12pm, rewarding those getting their cash down early.
- Prizes in the T&Cs refer to the cash that could be won by betting on an enhanced odds offer. The reason this is mentioned is it is often limited per customer. This is to stop one punter able to play for big stakes hammering the bookies.
How do Enhanced Odds Work?
Enhanced odds require a very small departure from your regular betting habits. To help make things crystal clear though, here’s a quick and easy guide to using them.
- Create an Account – Obviously, if you don’t already have an account with your chosen bookie, you’ll need to create one before using their deals. Simply head to the homepage of their desktop site or mobile app, click ‘Join’, and complete the registration process.
- Complete the Welcome Offer – Technically, this isn’t a ‘requirement’ for using enhanced odds. It’s still highly-recommended though, the first time you sign up with any new bookie.
- Find Your Enhanced Odds – You have two main ways to do this. The first is to simply go to the main homepage of the sports betting section. Most bookies will post all their biggest and best enhanced odds markets for the day here. The second is to visit the homepage for the subsection of your favourite sport. Enhanced odds will either be given their own small area here, or will be indicated via a special icon (such as an upward arrow).
- Place the Wager – Pick the enhanced odds market you like, then click the price next to it. This will automatically add it to your betslip. Now simply enter a stake, check everything is correct, and confirm the wager.
- Collect Your Rewards – If the wager wins, you will automatically be paid out at the enhanced odds. Better still, unlike other bookmaker offers, this bonus will be given to you as cash – with no wagering requirements – rather than as a free bet.
Types Of Enhanced Odds
- Price boost is the most common type of enhanced odds. Bookmakers mentioned in the above list have all, at one time or another, boosted the odds of a popular sports bet, such as a player to score the first goal in a big match or a certain fighter to win a boxing bout. This encourages punters to bet with this firm over the competition.
- Price promises is another form of enhanced odds betting you will find at the top online bookmakers. Firms like Betfair promise to be best price or joint best price on tennis, horse racing, football and more. They do this by constantly monitoring the price of their competitors and moving to better it.
- Price matching is something very similar to price promises. When price matching a bookie is telling customers they will match the market best price on a chosen fixture or race. This saves you looking around to get the best odds possible.
- Enhanced odds for new customers is available with many of the top names in the industry. Sign up for an account as a new player and you will get enhanced odds on your first bet.
- Enhanced odds coupons applies to football and tennis. It is a list of fixtures that have benefited from enhanced odds and you can add them to doubles, trebles and accumulators or simply back as a super single.
What are Price Boosts?
If you’ve spent any significant amount of time on sports betting, you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘price boosts’. These are similar to enhanced odds offers, in that they inflate the prices for your wagers. They do have a few key differences though, as you can see in the next section.
For now, let’s take a quick look at the two main types of price boosts – singles, and multiples.
Singles Price Boosts
With a singles price boost, you can inflate the odds on a particular singles market of your choosing. For the uninitiated, a ‘singles’ bet means that only one outcome needs to come good for your overall wager to win, with the most common example being Match Result / Match Winner.
Multiples Price Boosts
As you can probably guess, multiples price boosts work similarly to their singles counterparts, but only apply to multiples wagers. That means you must bundle multiple selections into a single qualifying bet, and these must all come good for your overall wager to triumph.
Multiples might consist of different selections, but they still form one overall wager. As such, it is the overall odds for your acca which will be boosted, not the individual ones. Also note that each ways – which sit halfway between singles and multiples – are usually ineligible for these boosts.
What are the Differences Between Enhanced Odds and Price Boosts?
The terms ‘enhanced odds’ and ‘price boosts’ are often used interchangeably by punters. It doesn’t help matters that some bookies also do this. Regardless, there are three key differences between the two deals, as you can see below.
1.Control
With enhanced odds, your sportsbook decides both the matchup and bet type on which the boost applies.
With price boosts, however, you’re in control of both the matchup and bet type. The trade-off is that the actual size of the boosts will usually be smaller.
2.Singles vs Multiples
Enhanced odds deals tend to be provided on multiples, and can have anywhere from two to four or five selections. This obviously makes them riskier picks, but helps to drive up the prices even further.
Price boosts, by contrast, can usually be used on singles wagers instead. These are easier to win, but – naturally – provide smaller rewards.
3.Frequency
Most bookies will release new enhanced odds markets every single day, often giving you dozens of options to choose from. You can also take as many of these as you want.
Price boosts are much more limited. If you’re lucky, you’ll be given one per day. Often though, you’ll be limited to a handful per week, or may even have to earn them via other betting promotions.
How to Profit from Enhanced Odds and Price Boosts
Enhanced odds and price boosts are valuable weapons, but still need to be used smartly. Here are five top tips for doing just that.
- Consider Moderating Your Stakes – Your first thought might be to keep your regular stakes with these boosts, and simply enjoy greater returns. We’d urge you to consider the alternative though: simply lowering your stakes (and therefore your risk) instead, and targeting a similar return to normal.
- Do Your Research – As with regular betting, you shouldn’t simply ‘go with your gut’ when using these deals. With enhanced odds, research the probabilities involved with the markets you’re being offered. With rarer price boosts, find the smartest possible markets on which to inflate your prices.
- Shop Around – The size of enhanced odds and price boosts varies considerably from bookie to bookie. Even if they involve the matchup or bet type you want, don’t simply leap at the first enhanced odds you see. Check a few other bookies instead, and see if their boosts are better.
- Commit to Welcome Offers – Don’t be afraid to ignore free bets in favour of enhanced odds when it comes to welcome offers. As noted earlier though, the sheer size of some enhanced odds sign up deals definitely make these a worthy alternative.
- Be Prepared to Pounce – Some bookies – like William Hill – offer short-term enhanced odds which are even bigger than usual. If you see these, you may only have a short amount of time to take advantage. Do a quick bit of research, and have the confidence to pull the trigger if you deem the deal to be worthy.
Enhanced Odds Terms & Conditions
It is worth remembering that all enhanced odds promotions have terms and conditions attached and you should take the time to read these before signing up and betting. This will ensure you have a full understanding of the small print. Here are some of the more important terms and conditions…
- Minimum deposit is the least amount of cash you can add to your betting account to qualify for the promotion. This is usually set at £5 or £10.
- Wagering requirements concerns the amount you can bet on an enhanced odds selection. Selections with enhanced odds may be limited to £1 stakes.
- Validity period is the time before the enhanced odds promotion expires. For example, it may be between 12pm and 1pm for the favourite of a horse racing taking place today. You must bet between that time to qualify.
- Payment options are worth knowing about as certain ewallet services don’t qualify you for promotions. This is due to customer misuse in the past. Credit and debit cards seem to work best when working towards enhanced odds offers.
How To Win An Accumulator Bet?
Sports bettors adopt several different strategies when it comes to placing accumulator bets, although some are more successful than others. Below are a few hints and tips to keep in mind when attempting to place a winning accumulator…
- Do as much research as possible. Read form, team news, injury updates, gossip columns and more. As much as you can get your hands on. The more you know the better your chances of winning are.
- Follow a successful tipster website. When taking the advice of tipsters, it’s important to check their profit and loss column for both the current month and the season so far. Maybe even last season, if it’s available.
- Get the best odds possible on each and every selection. Check a respected price comparison website to find out which bookies are most generous when it comes to your picks.
- Take advantage of the many football accumulator betting specials available, such as acca insurance and profit boosts.
