What Is the Vig (Juice) in Sports Betting?
Vig, juice and margin are three names for one thing: the fee a sportsbook builds into its prices. Here is how to spot it and why it matters.
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Three names for one fee
Vig is short for vigorish. Juice means the same thing, and so does the margin. It is the gap between what winners are paid and what losers put in, and it is how a book earns money without needing to pick a winner.
How -110 on both sides pays the book
Say one bettor takes each side of a spread at -110. The book collects $110 from each, a total of $220. The winner is paid $210 and the book keeps $10, which is about 4.5% of the $220.
This works when the money is balanced. Books also adjust prices to manage uneven action, so real results vary.
How to see it in the prices
Convert each side to a percentage and add them. -110 and -110 are 52.4% each, which totals 104.8%. The amount over 100%, here 4.8%, is the margin.
A market priced at -105 and -105 is 51.2% each, which totals 102.4%. That is a smaller margin, so the bettor is paying less to play.
Shopping for prices and reduced juice
Different books post different prices on the same game. A bettor who takes -105 instead of -110 needs to win 51.2% instead of 52.4% to break even. A person who wins half of their bets loses about 2.4% of the money risked at -105, compared with about 4.5% at -110.
Some books run reduced-juice offers that lower the price on certain bets, often to -105. Read the terms, since they can apply to certain sports, days or bet types.
Bets can lose, and nobody should bet money they cannot afford to lose. Bettors must be 21 or older where betting is legal. If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, call 1-800-GAMBLER.
Questions
Is the vig a separate charge?
No. It is not added at checkout. It is already inside the odds, which is why the two sides of a market add to more than 100%.
Can the vig be zero?
A book could post +100 on both sides, but that earns it nothing. Most markets carry some margin, and it varies by sport and book.
Does a smaller vig guarantee profit?
No. It lowers the cost of each bet, but bets can still lose.
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