Starting price betting means a winning bet is paid at the runner's official starting price (SP), the price when betting on the race closes, rather than at the price you were quoted when you bet. Using illustrative prices, $10 at SP on a runner that starts at $4.40 returns 10 x 4.40 = $44.00, whatever it was quoted at earlier in the day.
Who declares that price depends on the state. Racing NSW says the SP at NSW TAB race meetings has been produced by its NSW Official Price service since May 2017, from the prices of the larger licensed wagering operators (checked October 2026). Your bookmaker's terms name the SP its SP bets are paid at.
What SP means in Australian racing
SP is short for starting price, and each rule book defines it for the betting it governs:
- For NSW on-course bookmakers, BR 1 of Racing NSW's Rules of Betting defines the starting price as "the odds declared by the Club conducting the meeting to be the starting odds of any runner at such meeting".
- For WA bookmakers, rule 3(1) of Western Australia's Rules of Wagering 2005 (current version, in force since 7 October 2025) makes a starting price wager a win wager at the runner's final on-course bookmakers' odds. Those odds come from the pricing information body chosen by Racing and Wagering Western Australia (RWWA).
- Online bookmakers name the SP they pay in their own terms.
Three things hold for the rule-book versions above. The price is set when betting closes, every SP bet on that runner is paid the same price, and you do not know it when you bet.
A close relative, which WA's rule book calls a "starting price guarantee" wager, pays the higher of your fixed price and the SP (rule 3(1)). Top fluc is another price set after you bet: the highest price in a window rather than the last one.
Who sets SP in NSW, and Victoria's official price
NSW. Racing NSW's notice of the 2017 change says the Australian Prices Network (APN) model, built on on-course bookmakers' prices, was dropped in May 2017 for the NSW Official Price (NOP). It says the NOP calculation "is drawn from the price offered by a number of Licensed Wagering Operators during betting, as determined by Racing NSW stewards", and that those operators include corporate bookmakers and TAB fixed odds. At the conclusion of betting, the notice adds, "the same formula will determine starting price" for the official results.
Victoria. Racing Victoria publishes a Victorian Official Price for Victorian thoroughbred races and describes it as "the median price available across seven of the largest Wagering Service Providers" (checked October 2026). That page does not say how SP bets are settled, so for a Victorian race read your bookmaker's terms for the SP it uses.
Other states. Check the state's racing body and your bookmaker's terms.
Example: Seven illustrative closing prices for one runner, sorted: $4.00, $4.20, $4.20, $4.40, $4.50, $4.60 and $4.80. A median of seven is the fourth price, $4.40, so $10 at a price set that way returns $44.00. The best of the seven, $4.80, would have returned $48.00, because a median can never sit above the best price in its sample.
An official price drawn from several operators' prices carries their margins. Beating it by a few per cent therefore means less than it sounds, and closing line value in racing shows how to take the margin out before you compare.
SP, Betfair SP and the tote dividend compared
All three are unknown when you bet, but they are different numbers set in different ways:
| Starting price (SP) | Betfair Starting Price (BSP) | Tote dividend | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Set by | An official price service, or as your bookmaker's terms say | The Betfair exchange, at the jump | The tote, from its pool |
| Built from | Bookmakers' prices, margin included | Exchange bets placed to take the starting price, plus unmatched bets set to convert | The pool, less the operator's commission |
| Known | When betting closes | At the jump | After the result is official |
| Taken off a winning bet | Nothing more: the margin is in the price | Commission on net winnings in the market | Nothing more: commission came out of the pool |
| Another runner scratched before the close | Already reflected in the price | Struck on the field that runs | Bets on the scratched runner refunded, no deduction |
An exchange price has no bookmaker margin built in; the exchange charges commission on net winnings instead, at a rate it sets. Betfair Starting Price explains how BSP is reconciled, and tote betting explains how a pool pays out.
Worked: one runner, four prices
Example: Illustrative figures for a $20 win bet on Runner 6, not a real race. The fixed price was taken at 11 am, and the exchange commission is an illustrative 8% of net winnings.
| How you are paid | If it drifts: price | $20 returns | If it firms: price | $20 returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed price at 11 am | $5.50 | $110.00 | $5.50 | $110.00 |
| SP | $6.00 | $120.00 | $4.20 | $84.00 |
| BSP, net of commission | $6.80, net $6.34 | $126.72 | $4.60, net $4.31 | $86.24 |
| Tote dividend | $6.20 | $124.00 | $4.40 | $88.00 |
The net BSP is 1 + (BSP - 1) x (1 - commission rate). That is 1 + 5.80 x 0.92 = 6.336 when the runner drifts and 1 + 3.60 x 0.92 = 4.312 when it firms, so $20 returns $126.72 or $86.24.
When the runner drifted, every figure settled after the bet beat the 11 am price, and SP paid $10.00 more than it. When the runner firmed, the 11 am price beat all three by $22.00 or more, and SP paid $26.00 less. The move after you bet decided it, not the type of price, and the net BSP sat above SP in both columns only because these illustrative numbers put it there.
When taking SP makes sense
An SP bet is a bet that the market moves your way after you place it. Two situations make that more reasonable than usual:
- A drifting market. If you expect the runner's price to ease before the jump, perhaps because early money has shortened it, SP takes the price at the close. The drift you expect has to beat the gap between SP and the best fixed price on offer then. In the median example, the median price sat 1 - 4.40 / 4.80 = 8.3% below the best of the seven, and any SP drawn from several operators' prices can trail the best one the same way.
- A likely late scratching. Win with a fixed price struck before a late scratching and you are paid less the Stewards' cents-in-the-dollar deduction. An SP struck after the scratching already reflects the smaller field, which removes the question of how big the deduction will be.
Example: Illustrative: you could take a fixed $6.50 before another runner is scratched late, and the Stewards declare a 7c win deduction. On the face-value reading in Racing NSW's BR 14(4), $20 at $6.50 pays 130.00 x (1 - 0.07) = $120.90. The re-formed market starts your runner at $6.00, so $20 at SP returns $120.00.
The two land close together for a reason. The deduction method used in NSW, the NT, Queensland and Victoria since 1 August 2011 re-frames the market to restore the percentage it had before the withdrawal, Racing NSW says. Which comes out ahead on a given day is down to the figures.
A quick decision table:
| Situation | Take | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You expect a drift bigger than SP's gap below the best price | SP | The close pays the drift |
| You expect the runner to firm | The fixed price | A firm after you bet cost $26.00 on $20 in the worked example |
| You hold a price above what you expect at the close | The fixed price | SP would hand that edge back |
| You need to know your return before the race | The fixed price | SP is unknown until betting closes |
Risk: Betting involves risk. SP gains only if the price moves your way after you bet, a firm costs you the gap, and a beaten runner loses the whole stake at any price. See responsible gambling for limits and support.
How deductions apply to SP bets
Two cases, and your bookmaker's terms say how it handles each:
- Scratched before betting closes. The market re-forms without the runner before the SP is struck, so the SP already reflects the field that runs. That is the reasoning behind terms that pay SP bets without a deduction for such a scratching.
- Declared a non-starter after the official prices are set. The SP was then struck with that runner in the field, the Stewards can declare a deduction for bets placed before the withdrawal, and the terms say whether it reaches SP bets. With an illustrative 7c deduction on a $6.00 SP, $20 pays 120.00 x (1 - 0.07) = $111.60 on the face-value reading, or $20 + $100.00 x 0.93 = $113.00 if it comes off the winnings only. The deductions calculator works out either reading from your stake, price and deduction.
Two rule-book corners show SP bets standing where fixed prices are reset:
- In NSW, a horse can be withdrawn between final acceptances and the display of bookmakers' odds on race day. The Stewards may then order successful fixed-price bets paid at starting price odds instead of with a deduction (BR 11, for NSW on-course bookmakers).
- In WA, the stewards may in exceptional circumstances declare all wagers off and re-open betting, except wagers made at the starting price (rule 56(7)).
If no official price is set for the runner before the start, WA's rules fall back to the middle win dividend of an Australian totalisator for a bookmaker's SP bets (rule 51A(1)). Scratching deductions covers the deduction readings in full.
Mistakes with SP bets
All the figures are the illustrative ones from earlier sections.
- Reading SP as the best price. An official price drawn from several operators can sit below the best of them: in the median example it returned $44.00 on $10, against $48.00 at the best of the seven prices.
- Treating SP and BSP as one price. In the drift column, $20 at SP returned $120.00 and at BSP $126.72 after commission.
- Taking SP on a runner the market is backing. The firm column cost $26.00 on $20 against the 11 am price.
- Assuming every bookmaker pays the official SP. Read which SP your terms name, and what they pay if none is declared.
- Forgetting a late non-starter. An illustrative 7c deduction turned $120.00 into $111.60 on the face-value reading.
Comparing prices against the close
Whether SP or a fixed price suits a runner turns on where the bookmakers' prices sit and which way they are moving. B337's Terminal sets out prices from 40+ bookmakers across racing and sports, Betfair back and lay alongside, with price history (flucs) and closing lines (the last prices before the jump). These are the bookmakers' published prices, not an official SP, so settle an SP bet against the price your terms name.
Its prices are refreshed on a repeating cycle rather than tick by tick, so look at the price in your bookmaker account before you bet. A free account opens a limited view of the Terminal with live odds, and horse racing betting compares every price type, best of the best included. Bookmaker names are trade marks of their owners. B337 is not affiliated with them. Betfair is a trade mark of its owner, and B337 is not affiliated with it.
Risk: Betting involves risk. A closing line records where the market finished, not which runner will win, and the price on screen may already have moved by the time your bet reaches the bookmaker. See responsible gambling for limits and support.