The term ‘Juice’ or ‘Vig’ is the tax or commission that online sportsbooks charge on every bet that is made. Vig is the abbreviation for Vigorish, which is the Russian word for winnings.
The juice is added to every single bet that’s made, whether it is on totals, spreads, or moneylines. Additionally, it appears as the second number to the right of the total. At the end of the day, the less juice there is in sports betting, the better it is for you.
Best Reduced Juice Sportsbook
Understanding Juice/Vig
If you’re wondering how the standard juice is applied to sportsbetting, it is indicated as -110. Luckily it’s not that complicated as it appears, and by no means are you attending a math class here. The application of juice is straightforward. The figure -110 means that the juice is ten percent. Consequently, for every spread, moneyline, or total, the sportsbook charges a fee of 10%.
The sportsbook is continually adjusting the juice. It is either raising or lowering it. These changes depend on which team is bringing in the most dollars. For the most part, the juice is a negative number that bettors have to pay an extra fee for. On rare occasions when the juice is plus (+) real money bettors can win a bit of extra cash.
How To Calculate The Juice
Sportbookcasinos.com provides a simple explanation as to how the juice is calculated. Let’s take two college football teams like Florida State and Auburn.
If Florida State is the favorite with a 7-point spread against Auburn, the oddsmakers will indicate the line at Florida State as -7 (-110) and Auburn +7 (-110). The -110 bit is the juice.
If a bettor bets on Florida State with a point spread of -7, he’ll have to bet $110 if he wants to win $100. If you bet on Auburn, you’ll also have to bet $110 if you want to win $100.
The juice is akin to that of a second moneyline. Let’s assume the sportsbook is raking in the bets on Florida State, which is -7. Then the juice will be adjusted from -110 to -115, or -125. One can clearly see that when a specific team is taking in the majority of the bets, the juice increases. Should bettors place their bets on Florida State, it will cost them more.
What this tells us is that it’s best to place your bets on the favorite team early before the juice starts moving upward. Interestingly, as the oddsmakers change the juice on Florida State from -110 to -115, they’ll also drop the juice on Auburn from -110 to -105 because only a few bettors are betting on Auburn to win. Essentially bettors who bet on Auburn are paying less commission because Florida State is the favorite team to win.
Why Heavy Juice Moves The Line
By keeping an eye on the juice, bettors determine which team is receiving the most bets, and they can predict to which number the spread will move.
If Florida State continues getting more bets, the juice will continue to rise until it reaches a limit. If the juice hits -125 or higher, it is considered ‘Heavy Juice.’ If the majority of the bets continue going Florida State’s way, the entire spread will be moved half a point.
The oddsmakers indicate the juice of Florida State as -7 (-145) and will move the spread from -7 to -7.5. Can you see how smart the sport betting operator is? Congratulations if you picked up on it.
By moving the Florida State spread by half a point, the sportsbook is encouraging bettors to bet on Auburn’s spread of +7.5 and, at the same stroke, limit their losses on Florida State. Because the sportsbook is taking in an insane amount of bets on Florida State, it can afford to offer an underdog bet on Auburn. Usually, when the juice reaches a high of +115, the oddsmakers move the number, which explains why the next move is from +7 (+125) to +7.5.
Why Is Juice Important?
If you don’t understand juice, you’ll never win big betting on sports. In the online sports betting world, everything begins and ends with juice. It determines how much money you’ll win on each bet you’ve made. Juice encourages bettors to chop and change as they see fit, and it enables them to see when an entire line has changed.
Every which way you look at it, know that the sportsbook will always charge a betting fee. Unfortunately, it is what it is; it is a business after all. One that has been entertaining us for many years and has also paid out winnings to the smart bettors.
One of the reasons why they are raking in big bucks is because most bettors don’t take the time to learn the principles like juice and how it is calculated. It is just common sense to avoid a bet when the juice is sky-high.