Vig

by Betrics Co. Author Sal Cacciatore

What is a vig?

The vigorish, commonly known as the vig but also referred to as the “take,” “cut,” or “juice,” refers to the fee a sportsbook charges bettors for making a bet.

This fee is baked into the odds offered by the book. This is why point-spread bets commonly have -110 odds (where a gambler must bet $110 to win $100) even though they are theoretically 50-50 propositions.

Without the vig, the listed odds for a standard point-spread wager would be +100, but since it is -110 in reality, this represents a 10% take for the book.

Sometimes, one side in a point-spread bet will have odds that are longer or shorter than -110. For example, a team may be giving three points but be listed at -125 rather than -110.

This essentially means the book is charging more to bet on this side - perhaps most of the money is coming in on this side, so the book is making it more expensive to bet on this team (also, this could be a sign that the spread itself could soon move from -3 to -3.5).

Conversely, the other team in these situations will typically have odds that are longer than -110 to entice more gamblers to bet on this side (perhaps +105 if its opponent is -125).

Vigs are also baked into the listed odds for money line and other wagers.