What is juice in sports betting?

Juice in sports betting is the cut a sportsbook keeps for taking your bet. It's also known as the "vig." If you bet $10 on a point spread against a friend, the winner gets $10. But when you're betting at a sportsbook, you have to pay a cut to the book for taking your action — your $10 would only return $9.09. Here's a more detailed breakdown. 1.

How do you calculate a sports betting juice?

An even-money bet like a coin flip is 50% on each side, meaning the implied probability of the event is 100%. But the probability when betting sports will be greater than 100%, because the sportsbook needs its cut. You can calculate the juice by adding up the implied probabilities of each side, and then subtracting from 100.

What if there were no vig & juice in sports betting?

If there were no vig or juice, the odds would be +100 (bet $100 to win $100) on 50/50 bets or equal on moneyline bets (such as +200 on the underdog and -200 on the favorite). Vig can significantly cut into bettor’s profits and is what makes it difficult to make money sports betting.