Vig, Hold and Fair Odds
Every sportsbook price has a small fee built in, called the vig or juice. Remove it and you get the fair price: the market's best guess at the real chance.
Where the vig hides
A coin-flip market priced −110 / −110 looks even, but −110 means a 52.4% implied chance on each side. 52.4% + 52.4% = 104.8%. The extra 4.8% is the book's margin.
Hold: how much the book keeps
Hold is the share of all money bet that the book expects to keep. For −110 / −110 it is about 4.5%. Lower hold means a fairer market: sharp books often sit at 2–3% on main lines, while many props run 8–12% or more.
Removing the vig
Turn both sides into implied chances, then scale them so they add up to 100%.
Example: −150 / +130 → 60.0% and 43.5% (total 103.5%). Fair chances: 60.0 ÷ 103.5 = 58.0% and 43.5 ÷ 103.5 = 42.0%. Fair odds: about −138 and +138.
Why it matters
The fair chance is what you compare every bet against. Without it you can't tell a good price from an expensive one, and you can't measure EV.
Do it in one tap
Use the free No-Vig calculator and Hold calculator, or the odds converter for American, decimal and fractional odds.
More guides
Put it to work
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