Definition
Vig, short for vigorish (also "juice" or "the cut"), is the bookmaker's charge for accepting a bet, built into the odds rather than taken as a separate fee. On a two-way market priced at -110 on each side (bet 110 to win 100), a bettor must win about 52.4% of the time just to break even, and that gap above 50% is the vig.
It is the same concept as overround and margin, expressed from the bettor's side as the cost of the bet.
Vig is why a sportsbook profits over volume regardless of individual results: the prices on all outcomes are set so their implied probabilities sum above 100%, and the excess is the theoretical hold.
In context
For affiliates, vig is a foundational concept for honest betting content and pairs with the overround, implied-probability and odds-formats explainers. Content should show how a -110/-110 line converts to a break-even win rate above 50%, how to calculate the vig on a market, and how it compares across operators and market types - main lines carry a lower vig than props, specials or long accumulators.
This supports the practical advice to line-shop and to prefer lower-vig markets and operators.
The honest framing is that a lower vig is better value but does not make betting profitable - the charge still favours the book, and it compounds across the legs of an accumulator. Content should present vig as the cost of betting and a value-comparison tool, not a route to winning, and carry age-gating and responsible-gambling messaging.
For affiliate-facing content, the framing is that vig (vigorish) is the bookmaker's built-in charge for a bet, the bettor's-side expression of overround and margin, that a -110/-110 line requires about a 52.4% win rate to break even, that lower vig is better value but not a profit route, and that it should be explained alongside overround and implied probability as core betting education.
Worked example
An affiliate's explainer shows a -110/-110 line requires about a 52.4% win rate to break even, works the vig calculation on a market, and compares the vig on main lines (lower) versus player props (higher) across two operators. It states lower vig is better value but the book still holds an edge, and carries responsible-gambling messaging.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Browse more iGaming terms in our glossary.
← Back to glossary