PH22 Vig Meaning Explained: The Margin in Every Price

Vig meaning in one line: the vig, short for vigorish and also called juice, is the margin built into a book’s prices, and you see it when the implied probabilities of a market add up to more than 100%. Filipino bettors who learn to read it can tell what a price really costs before staking a peso. The sports betting terms overview defines the other words on the slip. Every price here is invented and says nothing about any operator.

Vig meaning in one table

A fair two-way market would add up to exactly 100%. A priced market adds up to more, and the gap is the vig.

Implied probability: the first step

Implied probability is the chance a price states. The formula is 1 ÷ decimal odds, written as a percentage. If a price is in another format, convert it first with the odds meaning formulas.

1. Decimal 2.00: 1 ÷ 2.00 = 50.00%.
2. Decimal 1.91: 1 ÷ 1.91 = 52.36%.
3. Decimal 2.50: 1 ÷ 2.50 = 40.00%.
4. American -110: 110 ÷ (110 + 100) = 52.38%.

Juice betting: the classic -110 market

Juice betting is another name for taking prices that carry a vig. The classic example is -110 on both sides of a market, meaning ₱110 staked wins ₱100. In decimal that is 1 + 100 ÷ 110 = 1.91, roughly.

The total is 104.76%, so the vig is 4.76 points. Test it: if each side truly won half the time, a ₱110 stake would win ₱100 half the time and lose ₱110 the other half, an average loss of ₱5 per bet.

Work out the vig on a two-way price

Take a different invented market, priced at 1.80 and 2.10.

1. Side one: 1 ÷ 1.80 = 55.56%.
2. Side two: 1 ÷ 2.10 = 47.62%.
3. Total: 55.56% + 47.62% = 103.17%.
4. Vig: 103.17% − 100% = 3.17 points.

Add the two implied probabilities and subtract 100. A bigger total means a bigger margin. The same arithmetic applies to the over and under totals described on the over under meaning page.

Remove the vig to see fair odds

To see the price without the margin, divide each side by the total.

1. Side one: 55.56% ÷ 103.17% = 53.85%.
2. Side two: 47.62% ÷ 103.17% = 46.15%.
3. Fair odds side one: 1 ÷ 0.5385 = 1.86.
4. Fair odds side two: 1 ÷ 0.4615 = 2.17.

Compare 1.86 and 2.17 with the posted 1.80 and 2.10. The gap on each side is what the vig costs you per peso staked.

Why vig matters over many bets

A small margin compounds with volume. Stake ₱100 on each side of a 1.91 market, ₱200 in all, and exactly one side wins: you collect ₱191 and lose ₱9, which is 4.5% of the ₱200.

1. One pair of bets: ₱9 lost.
2. Ten pairs: ₱90 lost.
3. One hundred pairs: ₱900 lost on ₱20,000 staked.

Combined bets multiply the effect, as the NBA parlay price example shows, because each leg carries its own margin. Decide your session size first and keep to it.