Vig Betting: What is A Vig in Gambling
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Last Updated: Jan 3, 2025
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Fact Checked By:
Anthony Cervino
In sports betting, the vig plays a crucial role in how sportsbooks generate profit. Understanding the vig is essential for making informed wagers.
What is Vig in Betting?
The vig, or vigorish, is the cut or amount charged by sports betting sites for taking a bet, also known as juice in slang terms. The sportsbook only collects the vig if the bettor loses the wager.
For example, a point spread is often listed with -110 odds. If the Eagles are -6.5-point favorites, that would be at -110 odds. If there was no vig, it would be at even odds, or +100. With the vig, a $100 bet would result in a $190 payout. If there was no vig, a $100 bet would result in a $200 payout. This simply means if you want to win $100, you'd have to bet $110 because of the vig, and when the bet loses, that $10 goes straight to the sportsbook.
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Of course, not all sports betting apps are the same, and sometimes regular odds are listed at -115 or -120. As more states legalize sports betting, the variety in vigs across states will be a talking point. That's because a lot of in-person sportsbooks take a higher cut of bets than online sportsbooks, which receive more bets because they are more widely accessible. While each state has different rules, there are certain states where sportsbooks have a higher vig across the board, no matter where you wager.
There are also situations where -110 odds would push to -120 or higher because that bet is getting a lot of money. If a lot of people are betting the Eagles at -6.5 (public money) and the sportsbook doesn't want to move that number to -7, they'll push the odds to -120 or -130, meaning a $100 bet would result in an even smaller payout.
Read More Sports Betting Q&As
Yes, sports betting is legal in North Carolina. It officially launched statewide on March 11, 2024.
Yes. Colorado legalized in-person and mobile sports betting in November 2019.
Sports betting is legal in Ohio, and takes bets as of January 1, 2023.
Yes, sports betting is legal in the state of Ohio.
Yes. Illinois passed sports betting legislature in 2019 and launched at legal sportsbooks in March 2020.
New Jersey was one of the first states to legalize sports betting and online wagering after the 2018 Supreme Court decision.
Yes. New Jersey was one of the first states to legalize sports betting and online wagering after the 2018 Supreme Court decision.
Yes. Sports betting is legal in North Carolina. It went live on March 11, 2024.
Yes. Michigan passed legislation to allow sports betting in December 2019 and the first physical sportsbooks opened in March 2020.
Pennsylvania passed legislation to allow sports betting in 2017 and sportsbooks began taking bets in 2019.
Yes. Pennsylvania passed legislation to allow sports betting in 2017 and sportsbooks began taking bets in 2019.
A unit in sports betting is a measurement of the size of a given bet.
Yes. West Virginia passed a law to legalize and regulate sports betting in 2018 prior to the ending of PASPA.
Yes. Sports betting was legalized in Arkansas in 2018 and launched at physical locations a year later.
DraftKings is legal for sports betting via the DraftKings Sportsbook mobile app, website or retail location in close to 20 U.S. states and 44 for DFS.
While 21 is the more common age limit, there are states in which you can bet on sports if you are at least 18 years old.
The plus (+) and minus (-) in sports betting can refer to either the point spread or betting odds.
No. Maine's governor vetoed a sports betting bill in early 2020 and while the Senate and House tried to overturn it, they didn't succeed.
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Kentucky sports betting is legal. It went live on September 28, 2023.
Yes. Sports betting launched in Kentucky in September 2023.
A futures bet is a bet on a future event, usually before a season starts.
Yes. Where legal, the Super Bowl is one of the most popular sporting events to bet on in the world, if not the most popular.
A hedge is a method to reduce risk and secure winnings for a specified bet.
If you've never bet before, there are surely a lot of words and phrases you've never heard before and even if you have bet before, you may not know...
