What Is the Vig (Vigorish) in Sports Betting?
Understand how sportsbooks make money through the vig (juice), how to calculate it, and strategies to minimize its impact on your betting profits.
The vig — short for vigorish, also called "juice" — is the commission that sportsbooks charge on every bet. It's how they guarantee a profit regardless of the outcome. Understanding the vig is essential for any serious bettor because it's the primary obstacle between you and long-term profitability.
How the Vig Works
The classic example: a standard point spread bet is listed at -110 on both sides. This means you have to risk $110 to win $100. If both sides attract equal action, the book collects $220 and pays out $210 to the winners — keeping $10 (4.55%) as profit. That margin is the vig.
In reality, the vig is baked into every market and isn't always split evenly. A moneyline might be -130/+110 — the favorite side has more vig built in. Converting both to implied probabilities: 56.5% + 47.6% = 104.1%. That extra 4.1% above 100% is the total vig.
How to Calculate the Vig
To calculate the vig on any two-way market: convert both sides' odds to implied probabilities, add them together, and subtract 100%. For American odds, the formulas are: Implied probability = |odds| / (|odds| + 100) × 100% for favorites, and 100 / (odds + 100) × 100% for underdogs.
Example: Lakers -4.5 at -108, Celtics +4.5 at -112. Implied probabilities: 51.92% + 52.83% = 104.75%. The vig is 4.75%. To get true no-vig probabilities, normalize each: 51.92/104.75 = 49.57% and 52.83/104.75 = 50.43%.
Vig Varies by Sportsbook and Market
Sharp books like Pinnacle typically charge 2-3% vig on major markets. Recreational books like DraftKings and FanDuel charge 4-6% on main markets and 8-15%+ on player props and alt lines. This is why props are often where the biggest +EV edges exist — the higher the vig, the more room for mispricing.
Strategies to Minimize the Vig
Line shopping across multiple books is the most effective vig-reduction strategy. By always taking the best available odds, you're effectively creating a lower-vig market for yourself. Using reduced juice promotions (some books offer -105 lines on select markets) also helps. And tools like our free Vig Calculator make it easy to see exactly how much you're paying on any bet.
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