Hold and vig explained

Hold, vig and juice all name the same thing: the margin a sportsbook builds into its prices. To measure it, convert the price on every outcome of a market to implied probability and add them up. A fair market adds to exactly 100%; a real one adds to more, and the excess is the book's cut. At −110 on both sides the total is 104.76%, so the margin is 4.76%, and if the book takes equal money on both sides it keeps 4.55% of everything wagered. Those two numbers are the two common ways of stating hold, and this guide works both.

Where the margin hides

A book does not charge a fee. It pays winners slightly less than the true odds, on every side. At −110 you risk $110 to win $100; a fair coin flip would pay $110 to win $110. Because both sides are shaded, their implied probabilities overlap and the total goes past 100%. Implied probability is the tool: for negative odds, odds ÷ (odds + 100) without the minus sign; for positive odds, 100 ÷ (odds + 100); in decimal, 1 ÷ decimal.

Why there are two numbers

The margin (sum of implied probabilities minus 1) is measured against the probabilities. Hold as a share of handle — what the book keeps out of every dollar wagered if it takes action in proportion to its prices — is 1 − 1 ÷ (sum of implied probabilities). They are close for small margins and move together, so either one ranks markets correctly; just compare like with like. The second is the one that tells you what hedging both sides would cost you per dollar staked.

Taking the margin back out

Divide each outcome's implied probability by the total and the results add to 100% — the simplest estimate of the fair odds. In the soccer market that gives Home 38.50% (about +160), Draw 28.31% (about +253) and Away 33.19% (about +201). This proportional method assumes the book spread its margin evenly; how to devig odds covers methods that account for books loading more margin onto longshots.

Hold differs by book and by market

The same game can carry very different margins at different books, and within one book main lines are usually tighter than props, alternate lines and futures. A lopsided price pair is not a sign of a low margin on its own — −300 against +240 adds to 75.00% + 29.41% = 104.41%, almost the same as −110 both ways. The only way to know is to add it up.

Why low-hold markets matter for promos

Most promotion work involves betting both sides of a market — once to qualify for an offer, again to hedge a bonus bet or clear a rollover. Every time you do, the combined margin of the two prices you used is what you pay. Picking the best price on each side from different books is what drives that combined figure down, sometimes close to zero; the low-hold guide shows the effect on a whole rollover, and the bonus bet conversion guide shows it on a conversion.

Not the same as the hold in revenue reports

State regulators and news stories also report a sportsbook "hold" that is a different number: what the books actually kept divided by the total wagered over a month. It includes parlays and the results of the games, so it moves around and is usually higher than the margin on any single straight bet. Both are useful; they answer different questions.

Calculating it in one step

The Hold Calculator takes the prices for every outcome of a two-way or three-way market and returns the hold and the no-vig fair price behind each outcome; it needs no account. To find the lowest-hold pairs across books instead of checking them one at a time, the Low Hold board ranks them live — the middles and low-hold walkthrough shows how to read it.