Vig & Hold Calculator

The vig (vigorish), also called juice, is the bookmaker's commission built into every betting line. It is the reason a standard point spread bet is priced at -110 on both sides instead of +100. The sportsbook guarantees profit by collecting slightly more from losers than it pays to winners. For a -110 / -110 line, you must risk $110 to win $100 on either side — the extra $10 per loser is the book's revenue regardless of which side wins. This commission is the fundamental business model of every sportsbook in the world.

The hold compounds over hundreds or thousands of bets. On a 4.55% hold line (-110 / -110), you need to win 52.4% of your bets just to break even. Over 1,000 bets at $100 each, the expected cost of the vig alone is roughly $2,275. Reducing your average hold from 4.55% to 2% (by line shopping to reduced juice books) saves approximately $1,275 over those same 1,000 bets. The hold is a silent tax on every wager — minimizing it is one of the few guaranteed ways to improve your long-term results in sports betting.

Line shopping — comparing odds across multiple sportsbooks before placing a bet — is the single most impactful habit for any bettor. The difference between -110 at one book and -105 at another might look small, but it represents a 2.17% reduction in hold. Over a lifetime of betting, line shopping typically saves 2-3% per bet, which translates to thousands of dollars. Professional bettors maintain accounts at 10+ sportsbooks specifically to capture the best available number on every wager they place.

No-vig (or fair) odds represent the true probability the market assigns to each outcome, stripped of the bookmaker's margin. To calculate them, you convert each side's posted odds to implied probability, sum them (the total exceeds 100% — the excess is the overround), then divide each side's implied probability by the total to normalize back to 100%. The resulting fair probabilities and their corresponding odds reflect the genuine market consensus, making them invaluable for identifying value bets and calibrating your own probability models.