What Does Juice Mean In Betting
If you do your homework and search across casinos you can find sportsbooks offering what are called ‘reduced juice’ or ‘nickel lines’. These are lines that the sportsbook will move to a lower “price” of -105. This basically means they’re reducing their commission from 10% to.
Sports Betting 101: What Does -110 (Juice or Vig) Mean When Betting Sports? WHAT DOES JUICE MEAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SPORTS BETTING? The initial objective of anyone who starts their adventure in sports betting is definitely making money. We can treat it as a hobby, or even as a leisure activity, or we can be purely professional, but at the end of the day, we all want to be profitable. The standard (and often implied) number is –110, meaning a successful bet of $110 would net $100 profit. This is the “juice” or “vigorish” (aka “vig”) for the house or sportsbook. A $10 bet on +120 odds would pay out $12 in profits. Examples: Below is an example of NFL betting odds taken from an online betting site. In this example you can see Los Angeles is listed at +130 ($100 bet pays $130 plus of course your original wager back) and New England is listed at -150 ($150 bet.
If you are just starting out in your sports betting adventure, you might have heard the terms “juice” or “vig” many times, but likely don't know what it means. Here we will explain what is juice (or what is vig) and how it all works in the sports betting world.
What is Juice? Juice Explained
Juice or “vig” is simply the percentage a sportsbook “charges” for offering odds on sports betting events.
As we all know, there are no membership fees to join and bet at a sportsbook and contrary to the popular belief, the sportsbooks don't make money from the people that lost their bets. Well, we should probably say that their goal is not to have losers betting, but have equal amounts on each side of the bet. Naturally, this is nearly impossible to achieve, so the sportsbooks do sometimes make money from people losing their bets and other times can get obliterated by winning bettors. But that's a topic of a different conversation.
Getting back on track to the “juice” and “vig”, which are two sports betting terms describing the exact same thing. The sportsbooks have built-in profit maker in the odds, which many bettors refer to as “juice” or vig, which is short for vigorish. The most simple way of explaining and understanding juice in betting is to think of it as a percentage of each bet the book charges the bettor, or if you are a poker player – look at it as a rake.
How Juice works? / How vig works?
With most betting lines, the juice is not really apparent, but you can spot it and understand it completely if you look at one popular betting option -the over/under bet. If you pick a sport and look at the over/under lines, let's say and NBA game, you will see something like:
Total 201.5 points
Over: -110
Under: -110
You know how the total bet works – the sportsbook selects the most likely total of the scores of each team and then offers odds on whether the actual score will be over or under that total. If the sportsbook's odds makers did their job, both over and under will have 50% chance of occurring. Yet if you look at the odds, you will see that they are not “even”, as one would expect, but -110, i.e. you have to bet $110 to win $100. Where did the extra $10 come from? Well, my friend, that's exactly what the juice is and how the vig works. The sportsbook tries to get even amount of money on each side of the bet, in this example case the over/under on the NBA game, and juices up the odds to make profit from both sides of the bet. If ten people bet to win $100 each on over (i.e. $110 wagered per bettor) and ten people bet to win $100 on under, in the end, the money will simply travel from one side to the other. But the sportsbook, thanks to the juice, will make cool $200 ($10 vig on every bet) fee for offering the odds. While it's not as easy to see the juice on most betting lines, know that it's always there.
Low Juice Sportsbooks
While every sportsbook will charge vig, or have juice in the odds, otherwise it would be one very risky and most likely, unprofitable operation, not all sportsbooks have the same juice in the odds. The industry standard among the top sportsbooks is the so-called dime line. You can read more about it in our betting glossary. And there are betting sites with extremely high juice, praying on unsuspecting recreational bettors, those should be avoided at all costs, no matter how little you may bet. There is no need to throw away your money and we will never have a high vig sportsbook listed among the sportsbooks we recommend.
On the other side, there are low juice sportsbooks, although not many of them, to be perfectly honest. One of the most popular and reputable low-juice sportsbook is 5Dimes, which has always offered low juice lines on all their betting markets and is The Low Juice Sportsbook for US players. Another trusted low juice sportsbook is Pinnacle, which unfortunately does not allow players from the USA to join and bet with them. Those two sportsbooks are a perfect example of low juice sportsbooks and you can visit them to compare odds with other betting sites to see examples of the vig we explained earlier.
<< Back to Betting Glossary
Here is a list of common sports betting terms that can help you understand the industry better, be a better sports bettor, and just generally feel more comfortable when discussing the subject.
Sports betting is growing by the day, especially in the United States where it’s becoming legal in more and more states. As the industry continues to grow, so does its popularity, but no one wants to be left feeling like they’re on the outside, right? Review these sports betting terms so you know what you’re talking about and can understand industry jargon.
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Action: A wager or bet of any kind.
Against the Spread (ATS): Taking action on one side of a point spread, but either taking points or laying points.
Backdoor Cover: When a side of a bet scores points late in a competition to cover the point spread.
Bad Beat: When you lose a wager you believe you should have won, you often refer to it as a “bad beat.” Oftentimes, a bad beat occurs when your side was expected to win the contest but ultimately lost.
Bankroll: The funds you have available to wager with.
Betting Line (or Line): The betting odds or point spread.
Bookmaker: A creator of betting lines and odds, often at a sportsbook.
Bookie: A person who accepts wagers.
Book: As a noun, “book” is short for “sportsbook – an establishment that accepts wagers. As a verb, to book means to place or accept a wager.
Buying Points: When a sports bettor pays an additional price to alter the betting line and adjust the odds, it is called “buying points.”
Chalk: Another term for the favorite or side of a bet that the public is favoring.
Circle Game: A game or competition with restricted (lower) betting limits.
Closing Line (or Close): The final point spread or betting line before a game or competition begins.
Consensus: The volume of bets that the public is on for a side of a game or competition, often listed as a percentage.
Contrarian: Going against the grain of public sentiment, a pick made that is opposite of the majority opinion.
Cover: Beating the point spread. When a side beats the point spread, it has “covered” the bet.
Dime: Slang for a one-thousand dollar ($1,000) wager.
Dog: Short for “underdog,” it is the side of a bet that is not favored.
Edge: An advantage.
Even Money: When the odds of a bet are the same as the wager, 1-to-1, and there is no vigorish (vig).
Exotic: A wager other than a straight bet or parlay, often called a “proposition bet” or “prop.”
Favorite: The side of a bet that is the likely winning side.
Futures Bet (or Future): A wager on a future sporting event. Most commonly, it is a bet placed on the outcome of an event in the current or upcoming season, such as placing a wager before the season or early on in the season for which team will win the Super Bowl in the NFL.
Grand Salami: An over/under total on the combined NHL goals for an entire day of games.
Handicapper: A person who tries to predict the odds and outcomes of an event.
Handle: The amount of money taken by a sportsbook or sports betting operator. Handle can be broken down per event, series of events, a specific time period, or in total.
Hedge: To place a bet opposing a wager you already have in place so that you are lowering your exposure or risk.
Hook: In point-spread betting, the hook is the extra half point attached to the spread, very commonly seen in football betting.
In-Play Betting: Another term for live betting, in-play betting is wagering that takes place while a game or event is running. Due to the fluid nature of the game or event, in-play betting lines adjust on the fly.
Juice: Another term for the “vig” or “rake,” which is the money a sportsbook or sports betting operator takes on a wager.
Key Number: A common point differential when it comes to scoring margins. Key numbers are most commonly referenced in football betting in regards to multiples of three or seven.
Laying Points: When a bettor is giving points to the other side. Betting the favorite.
Limit: The most amount of money a sportsbook or sports betting operator will take as a wager on an event.
Lock: A term used to describe when a bettor views a pick as a guaranteed victory.
Long shot: A big underdog to win.
Middle: An outcome that falls between two bets on different sides of the same event, allowing the bettor to win both wagers.
Money line or moneyline: The odds or price of betting an event straight up, without the use of a point spread. When betting the money line (or moneyline), the favorite will be designated with a minus sign next to the number. The higher the number, the greater the odds the favorite has to win, but the lower the payout. The underdog will be designated with a plus sign next to the number. The higher the number, the lower the odds the underdog has to pull off an upset, but the larger the payout will be should the upset occur.
Nickel: A $500 bet.
Oddsmaker: The person or persons who set the odds on an event.
Off the Board: When a sportsbook or sports betting operating removes a wager from its offering and is no longer taking bets on the event. Oftentimes, an operator will take a bet off the book when deciding to change the odds. Leaving the bet up could expose the oddsmaker to increased risk.
Opening Line (or Open): The initial point spread or betting line on a game or competition.
Over/Under: The line set on a specific total that bettors can pick to go over or under. Over/under lines are most commonly made on the point totals of games, but can also be used on teams, players, and other prop bets.
Parlay: A wager that includes multiple bets within one greater bet. To win, a bettor must hit all the individual bets.
Pick’em: When a game or event has no side that is favored over the other.
Point Spread: The point spread is how teams or sides are handicapped against one another. It’s the number of points one side is giving or receiving to the other. For more on point spread betting, click here.
Prop Bet (or Proposition Bet): A prop bet, short for proposition bet, is a type of side bet that is placed on something not determined by the final outcome of a game, such as a specific statistic for a given player.
Public: Another term for volume of bets being placed.
Puck Line: Hockey’s version of the point spread, although rarely anything different than -1.5 or +1.5. Instead of altering the points given, bookmakers will adjust the odds on these lines.
Push: A tie.
Quarter: A $25 bet.
Return On Investment: A measurement on a wager’s or bettor’s performance giving in the ratio of net profit and cost of investment.
Reverse Line Movement: When a line moves opposite of the betting percentages, or opposite the public.
Round Robin: A wager that allows a bettor to place multiple parlay wagers within a single bet.
Run Line: Baseball’s version of the point spread.
Runner: A person who places a wager for another person.
Sharp: A professional sports bettor or a bettor deemed to have an enhanced advantage.
Square: A casual, hobby sports bettor. Not a professional and considered to be just a member of the general public.
Sportsbook: An establishment that accepts wagers.
Steam: Term used to describe a fast-moving line.
Straight Bet: A bet that is made without using a point spread. In other words, another way to classify a money line bet.
Take the Points: The opposite of laying the points, taking the points means a bettor is receiving points from the other side. Betting the underdog.
Teaser: A bet that allows the bettor to adjust the point spread by adding or subtracting points. The adjustment comes at a cost, though, as the bettor will be faced with a lower return determined by the amount of the adjustment.
Total: The combined number of points, runs, or goals from an event.
What Does Mean In Betting 110
Tout: A person who sells his or her picks and sports betting knowledge to others.
Underdog: The side of a wager that is the unlikely winning side.
What Does Mean In Betting
Unit: The amount a bettor deems to be one wager’s worth. Bettors often bet in terms of units, with the number of units bet on an event determined by the bettor’s confidence in the wager.
Vigorish (or Vig): Another term for the “juice” or “rake,” which is the money a sportsbook or sports betting operator takes on a wager.
Wager: A bet.
What Does Juice Mean In Betting
Wise Guy: Another term for a sharp bettor used to describe a professional bettor or someone deemed to have an enhanced advantage.
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That’s it for now. Bookmark this page or check page often, as we’ll continue to add more sports betting terms to this list.