Learn how to remove the sportsbook juice (vig) to find the true mathematical probability of any bet. Essential for +EV sports betting.
New to this? Start with:American Odds To Decimal
You see Bucks -150 vs. Pacers +130 on FanDuel. Is the Bucks line fair, or is FanDuel charging you extra? To find out, you need to strip the sportsbook's fee — the vig — and reveal the true odds underneath.
The vig (short for vigorish) or juice is the sportsbook's built-in fee. A fair coin flip should be +100 on both sides (50/50), but sportsbooks price both sides at -110 to guarantee themselves a margin.
Think of it like a currency exchange desk at an airport. They buy euros at one price and sell them at a slightly higher price. The spread between those prices is their profit. Sportsbooks do the same thing with probability.
If you compare your own probability estimate against the raw odds, you are comparing against an inflated number. The vig makes every outcome look slightly more likely than it really is.
Remove the vig first, and you get the fair probability — the market's true view of each outcome. That fair number is the correct baseline for evaluating whether a bet has value.
Let's use Bucks -150 vs. Pacers +130.
Turn each side's American odds into a percentage:
Add the implied probabilities:
60.00% + 43.48% = 103.48%
A fair market totals 100%. The 3.48% above that is the vig — the sportsbook's profit margin on this game.
Divide each implied probability by the total:
Now the probabilities sum to exactly 100%. The house edge is removed.
Turn the fair probabilities back into American odds:
The sportsbook is charging you -150 for a bet that is fairly priced at -138. That 12-point difference is the vig on this specific outcome.
Tip: Compare your sportsbook's price to the fair odds. If you can find Bucks -140 at a different book, you are paying less vig than at -150. Shopping for lines is the simplest edge in sports betting.
The overround is a quick measure of how much juice a market carries:
| Market Type | Typical Overround | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Major spreads/totals | 104-105% | Tight market, bettor-friendly |
| Moneylines | 104-106% | Moderate vig |
| Player props | 106-110% | Higher juice, harder to find value |
| Parlays (effective) | 108-115%+ | Vig compounds per leg |
Lower overround = fairer prices for bettors. If you are serious about finding +EV bets, stick to markets with tighter juice.
The same method works for soccer and other sports with three outcomes (Win / Draw / Lose). Convert all three sides, sum them, and divide each by the total.
The overround is typically larger in 3-way markets because the book has more outcomes to shade. Expect 106-110% in many soccer markets.
The No-Vig Calculator handles all of this automatically for 2-way and 3-way markets. Enter the odds from your sportsbook and it shows:
Pair it with the +EV Calculator to evaluate whether a specific bet has long-run value based on your projection.
The vig (vigorish) or juice is the fee a sportsbook charges for taking your bet. It is built into the odds so the book profits regardless of the outcome.
Convert both sides to implied probabilities, sum them to find the overround, then divide each probability by the overround to get the fair (no-vig) probability.
Fair odds reveal the true probability of an outcome without the house edge. Comparing fair odds to your sportsbook line tells you if you have a positive expected value bet.