What vig is and how to remove it
Vig is the sportsbook fee, built into the price of every bet. Removing it shows what the market thinks a bet is really worth.
By EdgeFast · Updated October 16, 2026 · Informational, not betting advice. 21+.
The fee inside the price
A sportsbook does not charge a visible commission. It builds its fee into the odds by paying out a little less than a fair price on each side of a market. That fee is called vig, juice, hold or margin. On a standard point spread both sides are listed at −110: you risk $110 to win $100, when a fair coin flip would pay $100 to win $100.
Convert both sides to implied probability, which how to read betting odds covers, and the fee shows up as a total above 100%. −110 implies 52.38%, so −110 on each side adds to 104.76%. The 4.76 points above 100 is the overround. The share of all money bet that the book keeps, 1 − 1 ÷ 1.0476, is 4.55%. That is the hold.
Why it matters
The hold is the hurdle every bettor has to clear. At −110 you need to win 52.4% of your bets just to break even, even though a fair coin would need 50%. A lower hold is a lower hurdle, which is why the same bet at −105 is better than at −110 without anything else changing.
This is also why price shopping is the simplest edge there is. Taking the same bet at a better price lowers your break-even rate on every ticket. The vig calculator shows the hold and overround for any two-way market.
How to remove it
Removing the vig, often called devigging, turns listed prices back into fair probabilities. The most common method is multiplicative: convert each side to implied probability, add them up, and divide each side by the total. On −110/−110 each side is 52.38%, the total is 104.76%, and 52.38 ÷ 104.76 is 50.00% a side. The fair price for a 50% chance is +100.
Other methods spread the margin differently. The additive method subtracts the same number of points from each side. The power method raises each probability to a power that makes the sides sum to 100%, which takes more margin off the longshot. On balanced markets all three agree within a tenth of a point. On lopsided markets, such as a −400 favorite, the differences grow, and a cautious read uses the method least kind to your side. The no-vig calculator runs all of them.
One-sided markets
You can only devig a market when you can see both sides. Many props and same-game parlays are listed one-sided, with no price on the other outcome. In that case the implied probability still includes the margin and there is no honest way to strip it. EdgeFast uses the implied price in those cases and labels the method, rather than inventing a fair price. The methodology page explains exactly when that happens, and the +EV guide shows what to do with a fair price once you have one.
Worked example
- Market: Over 45.5 at −115, Under 45.5 at −105.
- Implied probabilities: −115 is 115 ÷ 215 = 53.49%. −105 is 105 ÷ 205 = 51.22%. Total 104.71%, so the overround is 4.71 points and the hold is 4.50%.
- Multiplicative devig: 53.49 ÷ 104.71 = 51.08% for the Over, 48.92% for the Under.
- Fair prices: 51.08% is about −104 and 48.92% is about +104. The Under at −105 sits nine points below its fair price of +104.
Questions
Is a lower hold always better?
For the same bet, yes. A lower hold means the book keeps less and you need a lower win rate to break even. Compare holds on the same market, though: a 3% hold on a main line and a 3% hold on a prop are the same fee even when the prices look very different.
Can the vig be negative?
Briefly, yes. If two books disagree enough that the best price on each side adds to less than 100%, the margin is gone and the pair of bets is an arbitrage. The arbitrage calculator checks any pair of prices. Those windows are rare and short.
Which method does EdgeFast use?
A price check removes the two-way margin proportionally, the multiplicative method, when both sides are listed, and labels the method on the check. When only one side is listed we use the implied price and label that instead.
Does removing the vig tell me who will win?
No. A fair probability is the market estimate with the fee taken out. It is a better estimate than the raw price, but it is still an estimate, and a 50% bet loses half the time.