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Non Runner No Bet (NRNB) Cheltenham Festival 2025

The Cheltenham Festival is the biggest Horse Racing meeting of the year, and features several key races. Punters will spend months researching and following horses in preparation for this event, and there are 28 huge races to choose from at the Festival.

One of the key issues with betting on Cheltenham ahead of time, is the possibility of your horse being pulled out of one race and entered into another, which is common practice for the top trainers, who move their horses to give them a better shot at winning. You might not hear about this change until the week of either.

That is why Non Runner No Bet (NRNB) is so important at the Cheltenham Festival. This gives you the freedom to bet on a horse, and if that horse is withdrawn from the particular race you bet on them in, or from the festival completely, you will get your stakes back.

The idea of backing a horse early is to get the very best value available, and there is often the risk of that particular horse not running, which will put bettors off placing a bet.

Protect Your Bet With NRNB

The good news is, with NRNB, you will protect your bet, getting your stakes back if your horse doesn’t run. You will see slightly shorter odds on the horse as a result of bettingon them under the Non Runner No Bet terms, but your bet will be covered in the event of a withdrawal.

Top Bookmakers Offering NRNB for Cheltenham 2025

To be considered a popular Cheltenham Festival bookmaker, punters will expect Non Runner No Bet markets to be offered, so those that do offer these markets will be ahead of the curve.

Failing to offer NRNB markets ahead of the Cheltenham Festival will certainly see bookmakers left behind. Make sure you are checking out whether your favourite bookmaker offers Non Runner No Bet markets, ahead of the 2025 Festival.

The first bookmaker to offer Non Runner No Bet markets for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival is William Hill, who have offered this from New Year’s Day. This is an early start, with bookmakers typically launching NRNB markets a little bit later, but William Hill are clearly looking to make a splash ahead of the biggest Horse Racing event of the year.

William Hill Offering Non Runner No Bet on All 28 Races at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival

William Hill have kicked off the new year in style, by being the first bookmaker to offer Non Runner No Bet markets for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.

Not only are they offering NRNB markets already, but they are available on all 28 races at the Festival. Some bookmakers only offer Non Runner No Bet on the Championship Races, but William Hill continue their run as one of the best Horse Racing betting sites, by covering every race of the meeting.

With this early action coupled with the fact that they are offering it on every race, we see William Hill as one of the best bookmakers for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival. If you are looking to place a NRNB bet on the Festival now, this is your option.

Terms and Conditions for the William Hill Non Runner No Bet Promotion

The Non-Runner Money Back (NRMB) promotion (the “promotion”) is available from 12:00 on 01/01/2025 until 11:59 on 09/03/2025 on all 2025 Cheltenham Festival races (which take place between Tuesday 11 March and Friday 14 March 2025).

williamhill.com

c) (NRMB) refunds will apply to cash stakes only. Free bet stakes will not be eligible for (NRMB) refunds.
d) For multiples placed on a (NRMB) market: if any selection is a non-runner, the relevant selection will be voided, and the remaining selections will be settled accordingly.
e) This iteration of the promotion is only available to Online customers who are resident in the UK and Ireland.
f) This iteration of the promotion is only available online via the William Hill website (williamhill.com) or William Hill iOS or Android Mobile app.

Additional Terms

a) Any Fair Play refunds applied on race day will not be applicable to (NRMB) markets.

Overview

Back a horse to win any 2025 Cheltenham Festival race, and if your horse doesn’t run on the day, we will refund cash stakes on singles in full, or void the selection in multiples. Other terms apply.

Which Other Bookmakers Will Offer Non Runner No Bet for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival?

In time, we will see a growing list of bookmakers join William Hill in offering Non Runner No Bet for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival, and this will typically happen in February. This gives punters a month or so to place and cover their ante-post bets for the Festival, via the NRNB promotions.

Most leading bookmakers will offer this promotion, and below, we will add a list of bookmakers that did offer Non Runner No Bet for the 2024 Cheltenham Festival.

bet365 – Non Runner No Bet went live on 19/01/2024 for Championship Races and 29/01/2024 for all 28 Races
BetMGM – Non Runner No Bet went live on 01/03/2024 for all 28 Races
BetUK – Non Runner No Bet went live on 01/03/2024 for all 28 Races
BetVictor – Non Runner No Bet went live on 06/02/2024 for all 28 Races
Boylesports – Non Runner No Bet went live on 06/02/2024 for all Championship Races
Coral – Non Runner No Bet on all 28 Races – Date N/A
Ladbrokes – Non Runner No Bet on all 28 Races – Date N/A
LiveScore Bet – Non Runner No Bet went live on 05/02/2024 for all 28 Races
SkyBet – Non Runner No Bet went live on 19/01/2024 for all 28 Races
talkSPORT Bet – Non Runner No Bet went live on 05/02/2024 for all 28 Races

bet365 Cheltenham Non Runner No Bet 2025

bet365 have now followed in William Hill’s footsteps by offering NRNB on all 28 races at Cheltenham. They staggered their releaseby offering Non Runner No Bet markets for just the Championship races. However, they then announced that all races would also be covered.

Sky Bet Cheltenham Non Runner No Bet 2025

Once Sky Bet goes live with Non Runner No Bet, we will have an exciting trio of bookmakers live with the NRNB promotion ahead of the festival. Last year, Sky Bet opened up their NRNB Ante-Post markets for the Cheltenham Festival on the 19th January 2024. This was the same day that bet365 offered the promotion for the Championship Races. Sky Bet instead joined William Hill in offering the promotion on every race of the Festival right away.

888Sport Cheltenham Non Runner No Bet 2025

One bookmaker that has joined William Hill and gone early with their Non Runner No Bet promotion is 888Sport. This means you can now bet on horses like Brighterdaysahead or Lossiemouth in your chosen race, knowing you will get your money back if they run in the Mares Hurdle, rather than the Champions Hurdle or vice versa.

Paddy Power Cheltenham Non Runner No Bet 2025

Paddy Power has also announced they will be offering NRNB for all 28 Cheltenham races and applies to bets placed from 7am on January 31st, 2025.

Coral Cheltenham Non Runner No Bet 2025

Coral announced they will offer NRNB for all of the festival's CHampionship races. This includes the Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ryanair Chase, Stayers' Hurdle, and Cheltenham Gold Cup.

When Will All Bookmakers go Non Runner No Bet for the 2025 Cheltenham Festival?

Not every bookmaker will offer NRNB for the Cheltenham Festival in 2025, but for those that do, they will likely have gone live with the promotion by the end of February. Some bookmakers wait until the calendar flips over to March to offer it for the 10 days leading into the Festival, but the leading bookmakers will generally be offering it by February.

Keep your eyes peeled on this page and Oddschecker in general for more information on which bookmakers are offering Non Runner No Bet for Cheltenham and when they are putting the promotion live.

How to Place a Non Runner No Bet Wager at Cheltenham in 2025

Sign up for a William Hill account or log in to your account if you are already a user.
Complete your registration or head straight to the Horse Racing page on-site if you are already signed up and logged in.
Head to the “Future Races” section.
Here you will find markets for the Cheltenham Festival. These will be marked as “Cheltenham Festival - Tuesday 11th March NRMB” for example – this is to indicate Non Runner Money Back.
Now just make your selection and add it to the betslip in the normal way.
In your betslip, you should see a line like this “Outright - Supreme Novices' Hurdle - Non Runner Money Back - 11th Mar 2025” which confirms you are betting on an NRNB or NRMB market.
Now place your bet and you will be covered by William Hill’s Non Runner No Bet promotion.

If you are confident a horse is going to run in your chosen race, then it might be worth diversifying your betting portfolio with a combination of regular Ante-post bets at longer odds and NRNB bet. The latter will see you place a bet at shorter odds, but you will get your stakes back if your selection doesn’t run. This way you get the best of both worlds, as you take advantage of some of the early value that is still available, and a protected wager on the same horse, which will be voided if it doesn’t run.

Why NRNB Matters at Cheltenham Festival 2025

You might be asking yourself why there is such a big discussion over Non Runner No Bet Markets so far out from the actual Festival in March, but here is why you really need to consider NRNB betting ahead of the 2025 Cheltenham Festival.

Dynamic and Ever-Changing Landscape – The landscape at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival is ever-changing, which means new information about your favourite horses and races is coming in all the time, in the build-up to the Festival. Plans change for horses all the time, especially in the week leading into the Festival, when we know more about the weather and other contributing factors.
Injuries and Late Withdrawals – Injuries can play a huge part in the Cheltenham Festival. Due to the nature of the meeting, Trainers will normally give their horses the very best opportunity to run, meaning we might not get official news on whether a horse is running until the last minute. This is why it is important to cover your bets in the NRNB markets.
Nicky Henderson Mass Withdrawal in 2024 a Huge Sign to Bet NRNB – 2024 was one of the biggest signs that Non Runner No Bet is important. Before the Festival, Constitution Hill who was the favourite to defend the Champions Hurdle, had to be withdrawn from the race, due to issues on his blood test. Henderson would later pull Jonbon from the Champion Chase and Gold Cup hopeful, Shiskin. This came after five of his six runners were pulled up on the opening day of the Festival. Other withdrawals that week included Champ, First Street, and Kingston Pride, all who would have been lively runners in their race. If you had bet on the likes of Constitution Hill, Shiskin, and Jonbon in normal ante-post markets, all of whom would have been popular ahead of the Festival, you would have lost your stakes. Had you have bet on them, at admittedly shorter odds, but under the Non Runner No Bet markets, you would have got your stakes back, and would have the funds to bet on an alternative horse.
Peace of Mind – Betting on a horse this early comes with its risks, so you can at least give yourself the peace of mind, that if your chosen horse does not run in the race you have bet them in, you will get your stakes back. This is the obvious advantage of placing your bets in the NRNB markets ahead of time.

Are There any Downsides to Betting Non Runner No Bet at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival?

As with any betting decision there are pros and cons, and choosing to bet in the NRNB market ahead of the Cheltenham Festival is no exception.

Here are the potential cons to betting in the Non Runner No Betting Markets ahead of the Cheltenham Festival in 2025:

Shorter Odds – When Non Runner No Bet comes into play, the odds on your favourite horses will typically shorten, as you are removing a certain amount of risk. Take Galopin Des Champs for example. He is now Evens on both William Hill and 888Sport for the Gold Cup, whereas he is still as big as 6/4 elsewhere. Another example is Brighterdaysahead, who is 2/1 on William Hill, in the Champions Hurdle market behind Constitution Hill, who is 4/7. These two horses are best-priced at 4/5 and 5/1 elsewhere.
Bookie May Not Offer All Races – Some bookies offer NRNB on all 28 races, some only cover the Championship races, and others don’t offer the promotion at all. The fact you may have to go hunting to see whether your bookmaker offers the promotion may dampen the appeal somewhat. With that said, you can see from the group above which bookmakers do offer it and when they generally release the promotion.
Better to Bet Early? – Some punters will simply accept the risk of placing a bet on their chosen horse so far out from the Festival. Many would argue that part of Ante-Post betting is factoring in things like a possible withdrawal, injuries or a loss of form, and that is why they will bet on horses early, to get the best possible value. Punters for example, who bet on Constitution Hill at the start of December were able to get 5/1 odds on the now odds-on favourite to win the Champions Hurdle. Before his win at Kempton on Boxing Day there were serious doubts over Constitution Hill ahead of this year’s Champions Hurdle at Cheltenham, but once he was declared and won so brilliantly, the odds began to tumble. Now, after another impressive win, this time over Lossiemouth, punters who grabbed the early value on the 2023 champion will be feeling very smug. If you had waited until the Non Runner No Bet markets went live, you would not have placed what now looks to be a great value bet.

Non Runner No Bet perfectly encapsulates the true meaning of risk and reward. If you are willing to take a shot on a horse before these markets are released, then you might secure great value, as many will have done on Constitution Hill. On the other hand, if you are someone who is risk-averse and value security over the very best value, then NRNB markets are likely for you.

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to waiting for Non Runner No Bet markets to go live, it is simply down to your personal betting preferences.

Non Runner No Bet FAQs

What is Non Runner No Bet (NRNB)?

Very simply, Non Runner No Bet protects your horse racing bet. If you bet on a horse in a Non Runner No Bet market and that horse doesn’t run, your stakes will be returned. It doesn’t matter whether your horse pulls out through injury or is entered into another race, you will get your stakes back.

When Do Bookmakers Offer NRNB for the Cheltenham Festival?

The timeline varies depending on each bookmaker, with the likes of William Hill and 888Sport offering Non Runner No Bet markets since the 1st January 2025. Other leading bookmakers such as bet365 and Sky Bet generally wait until mid-to-late January, while others can leave it until February or even March. Check out our list above, to see when bookmakers launched their Non Runner No Bet promotions in 2024.

Are All Races at the Cheltenham Festival Covered by NRNB Offers?

Every race at the Cheltenham Festival will be covered by NRNB terms, but while most bookmakers will offer Non Runner No Bet on every race of the meeting, some may do it just for the Championship Races. Make sure you check the terms of your chosen bookmaker’s offer, to see if they are offering Non Runner No Bet on every race, or just selected races.

Can I Combine NRNB with Other Promotions?

Every bookmaker will have their own rules, but one of the positives of Non Runner No Bet, is that you can quite often combine NRNB with other promotions. This means you could potentially claim a free bet welcome offer and still bet on Non Runner No Bet Markets, and others may also offer enhanced prices in these markets. Not every bookmaker will though, so be sure to check out the Non Runner No Bet terms and conditions carefully with your chosen bookmaker.