What is the Juice, Vig, Rake?

The Vig (Vigorish) is the Percentage charged by the book on each bet and how Sportsbooks guarantee that they make money.  It is a way of taking on risk for bets that are placed. Often times Fanduel and other bets take large vigs on both sides of a bet. A typical spread bet, which aims to even the odds, is usually -110 or +110 depending  on the team you choose for most bets.

Check Out The Odds Without the Vig. 

When you make a typical bet with a friend you generally bet on something that has generally even odds and whomever wins takes the pot. Or, if you are both savvy bettors you may attach odds to the outcome like 2:1 or 10:1 or whatever. As discussed, “vegas” “the house” or the Sportsbooks attach an additional percentage (usually about 5-10%) on each bet so that no matter who wins the house takes home a profit.

Great bettors understand the “no juice” odds when they place bets before placing them.  This allows you to see what Sportsbooks actually think the odds are going to be for each outcome.  By knowing this you can see if there are high value bets, mismatched lines, and have better success long-term.  Here’s how you can figure this out on your own as well.

Once you’ve removed the juice:

• Compare the betting lines to your own opinion with an expected value calculator.
  
  
• If your estimated chance of Lakers winning is 55%, but the no-vig line says 50%, then that’s 5% value for you.
  
  
• If you bet on these edges consistently and you're accurate, you can do much better than without.

• Find +EV (positive expected value) lines and don’t bet every game.  You just need to find a few bets with a mispriced market.
  
  

Quick Example

Take two sides at -110:

• -110 = 52.38% implied probability
  
  
• Together = 104.76% (that extra 4.76% is the juice)
  
  

To remove it, just normalize:

• 52.38 ÷ 104.76 = 50%
  
  
• Now you’re looking at the true odds.
  
  

In the RedZone:



If you’re hoping to increase your long term success then this is an essential thing to keep an eye on.  We all have games we somehow KNOW the outcome of and bet on it, now you can make those picks even more profitable. 

Want a calculator to do this faster? We got you. See our +EV Calculator here!
https://www.edgeabet.com/nojuice