BetUS
BetNow
MyBookie
Bet105
BUSR Sports
Everygame Sports
BetOnline
BetWhale
BetAnything
Xbet
Bovada
Bookmaker
A better-looking price is not automatically a better market.
A bettor spots +150 at one book and assumes it must be the bargain. But that single number says only part of the story. A line can look generous while the rest of the market is priced with a larger hidden cushion for the bookmaker.
That cushion is the vig (also called juice or overround). It appears when the implied probabilities of every possible outcome add up to more than 100%. The excess is not a prediction that an outcome will occur; it is the market-level cost built into the set of prices. Comparing one side in isolation can therefore mislead. Calculating vig across both sides—or across every runner in a futures market—shows how expensive the book is before deciding whether its best line is truly competitive.
- For a two-outcome market, add both implied probabilities; anything above 100% is the vig.
- A book can offer the best price on one selection yet still carry a higher overall vig than a rival.
The margin lives in the whole market
- Vig
Short for vigorish, vig is the bookmaker’s built-in charge, measured by how far all implied probabilities in a market add above 100%.
- Hold
Hold is often used interchangeably with vig for a market’s theoretical margin. In sportsbook accounting, it can also mean the share of stakes actually retained after results settle.
- Juice
Juice is the price attached to a bet—commonly the extra cost represented by -110 rather than even money. It is casual bettor language rather than a separate calculation.
- Overround
Overround is the numerical total of implied probabilities above 100%. A two-way market totaling 104.8% has a 4.8% overround.
A single -110 quote implies 52.38% probability: 110 ÷ (110 + 100). That figure alone does not state the book’s margin. It only shows the probability embedded in one side.
For a typical -110/-110 matchup, both sides imply 52.38%. Add them: 104.76%. Subtract 100%, and the market vig is 4.76%. If one side is -120 and the other +100, calculate each implied probability first, then add them; uneven prices can still produce the same or a different margin.
This is the core of how betting odds translate into probabilities: convert every available outcome, total them, and compare totals across books. A lower total generally means a cheaper market, even when the preferred team’s individual price looks similar.
A -110/-110 market has 4.76% vig
-
Start with both prices
Consider a standard point spread or total where each of the two mutually exclusive outcomes is priced at -110. One ticket wins if the first outcome happens; the other wins if it does not. The vig belongs to that pair, not to either price alone.
-
Convert each American price to implied probability
For negative American odds, implied probability is: odds risked ÷ (odds risked + 100). For -110, that is 110 ÷ (110 + 100) = 0.52381, or 52.38%.
-
Add the two implied probabilities
Because both sides are -110, the other outcome also implies 52.38%. Together they total 52.38% + 52.38% = 104.76%.
-
Subtract 100% to find the overround
A fair two-outcome market would add to exactly 100%. The amount above that benchmark is the bookmaker’s margin: 104.76% − 100% = 4.76% vig.
-
Keep the other side in view
A -110 price by itself says only that the book is assigning a 52.38% implied probability before removing margin. To judge whether that side is comparatively expensive, the price on the opposing outcome is still needed. A market such as -115/+105 has a different total overround and a different split of that cost.
Rounded displays may show 4.75% or 4.76%; the unrounded calculation is 4.7619%.
A single odds quote cannot reveal a market’s vig. Even in a two-way bet, the comparison starts only after both mutually exclusive outcomes have been converted and added together.
Use decimal odds for quick checks
Decimal odds are especially handy when comparing books because the implied probability is simply 1 ÷ decimal odds. For a quick conversion from American odds, positive odds use (odds + 100) ÷ 100; negative odds use (100 ÷ odds) + 1, treating the odds number as positive. Thus +150 becomes 2.50, while -110 becomes 1.91.
Fractional odds convert by adding one: 5/2 becomes 3.50 and 10/11 becomes 1.91. Going back, subtract one and express the remainder as a fraction: 1.91 is roughly 10/11. These shortcuts make it easier to convert odds when comparing prices across sites without repeatedly translating formats.
Check both sides, not one
Suppose a two-way market is priced at 1.91 on each side. Each side implies 1 ÷ 1.91 = 52.36%. Together they total 104.72%, so the vig is 4.72% (minor variation from 4.76% reflects rounding of -110 to 1.91).
A book offering 1.95/1.95 totals only 102.56%, or 2.56% vig. Decimal prices make that difference visible with two divisions.
Three-way markets: count the draw
A standard soccer 1X2 market has three mutually exclusive outcomes: home win (1), draw (X), and away win (2). A match cannot settle as more than one of these, so all three implied probabilities belong in the same vig calculation.
Suppose the decimal odds are:
| Result | Decimal odds | Implied probability |
|---|---|---|
| Home win | 2.10 | 47.62% |
| Draw | 3.40 | 29.41% |
| Away win | 3.60 | 27.78% |
Convert each price with 1 ÷ decimal odds, then add the results: 47.62% + 29.41% + 27.78% = 104.81%. Subtract 100%, leaving 4.81% vig.
The draw is the easy result to overlook, particularly when comparing prices quickly. Leaving it out produces a total below 100% and makes the market appear cheaper—or even falsely generous. The same rule applies to any market: first list every result that can settle the bet, then calculate the overround across that complete set.
A draw-no-bet market has only home and away outcomes because stakes are returned on a draw. Its vig must be calculated separately from the three-outcome 1X2 market.
Compare like for like before choosing a price
A vig comparison is meaningful only when both books are quoting the same event, the same market, and the same rules at roughly the same moment. A fast-moving line can make a clean-looking comparison misleading: one book may simply be reacting later to news, money, or a lineup change.
Top Offshore Sportsbook Picks for October 2026