Sports betting is rife with terms and I get that it can be confusing as you hear these words thrown around. The great news is that not all of them matter, but one I think you must understand is juice.
But what is juice in betting? I aim to explain this term in the below guide and give you some examples of how it works for sports betting, plus what it means for your long term betting experience.
What does juice mean in betting – a simple introduction
I’m sure you’ve asked questions like
what is a push in betting, but I want to start with juice as this is something that is applicable to every sportsbook and to most bet types.
Juice, vig, vigorish, cut, take, or any of the other names it has is essentially the money that the sportsbook keeps for facilitating your bet. Let’s look at a simple example.
If you had a $100 bet with your friend on the outcome of an NBA game, either one of you would simply win $100. In contrast, if you, for example, wanted to place a spread bet on that same NBA game, you’d probably have to wager $110 to get that same $100 return. That $10 difference between what you wager, and the return you make is essentially the juice.
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Why is it important to understand juice in sports betting?
You may wonder why this matters. Surely you either win or lose a bet and that’s the main thing right? This is true, and in the short term and immediate resolution of your bets, juice really doesn’t matter. For example, let’s say you placed that $100 spread bet and won and you walked away with $220 total. The $10 juice that the sportsbook baked into the price didn’t affect you at all.
However, theoretically over time, when your losses start to rack up, the juice becomes more relevant as it makes a dent in your overall profitability. Therefore, bets with a higher juice over time will mean that your cumulative winnings are less and less, and even if you have an overall winning record, you still might not be profitable due to the implied juice the sportsbook is taking.
In simple terms, juice increases your break-even point. For example, let’s say that you placed 10 moneyline bets at $100 each, with -110 odds. Theoretically you only need to win 5 of those to break even right? Wrong.
- 5x wins with $100 bets at -110 odds = $954.54 returned.
- 5x losses with $100 bets at -110 odds = $0.00 returned.
- Total expenditure = $1000.00
- Total returned = $954.54
- Total loss = $45.46
This illustrates juice perfectly. In this scenario, you’ve placed 10 identical bets with the same bet value and same odds, and won 50% of them which SHOULD mean that you broke even. However, because of the built-in juice, you actually end up making a loss of $45.46. This $45.46 is the juice, or whatever else you want to call it.
With the above example, I used a relatively low 10% juice which is considered “standard”. However, you can see the potential impact if the juice was more:
| 5x wins with $100 bets at -130 odds | $884.61 returned |
| 5x losses with $100 bets at -130 odds | $0.00 returned |
| Total expenditure | $1,000.00 |
| Total loss | $115.39 |
In both of these examples you would actually need to win 6/10 bets to make a small profit. As the juice gets higher, it can even get to the point where even if you have a winning betting record that you haven’t made any profit and are still in a deficit. This is why it’s incredibly important to understand what it means.
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How you can turn juice to your advantage
Once you understand how juice works and what to look for on the different types of bets, the main piece of advice I can give is to use this to your advantage to compare the best sportsbooks to find bets you want to place with the lowest vig percentage.
We’ve got some fantastic recommendations for online sportsbooks for your region, and by signing up to a few of them, you can make sure you always find the best bet possible. The percentage difference in juice might not be huge between each sportsbook, but if you make the effort to compare odds for each bet you are making, those small differences in juice percentages will add up over time and benefit your overall betting strategy.
Pros and cons of juice in betting
Like the
best free bets, juice in betting is a mixed bag. Really, it’s more something you need to be aware of than something you can act on. However, there are some advantages to its transparency and how you can utilize it to your advantage as I explained above.
Advantages
- It’s relatively easy to see the juice
- You can use your knowledge of juice to find better odds
- You can make more educated bets.
Disadvantages
- Juice is applied to every bet and all bet types.
Start checking for juice before you make your sports betting decisions
So, what is juice in betting? In short, it’s the sportsbook’s commission for taking your bet. Remember that the higher the juice on any bet you make, the more difficult it will be for you to break even in the long run. I recommend you take the time when using
bookmakers that accept credit cards
or any type of sportsbook to analyze the odds and account for things like juice before placing your wagers. While you can’t avoid vig, you can compare juice between different sportsbooks to make sure that you always get the best possible bet value.
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Juice in sports betting FAQs
🍹 What does juice mean in betting?
Juice is essentially the commission the sportsbook charges for taking your bet. For example, a spread bet at -110 odds has an effective 10% juice baked into the odds. The juice isn’t applied to your bet value, but to the bet odds – think of it as something similar to the commission traders charge on buying and selling shares..
🏦 Do all online sportsbooks have juice?
Yes. The key is looking at the different juice percentages between the best sportsbooks and making sure you get the lowest vig and thus the best bet possible.
🚫 Is it possible to avoid juice at online sportsbooks?
No. The only thing you can do is understand how juice works, what to look for, and to make sure that you are comparing juice between different sportsbooks so that you can get as low a vig percentage as possible.
⚽ Is juice applied to all types of sports bets?
Yes. You won’t find any sports bets without some type of juice applied. This includes moneylines, spreads, line bets, and even player and team props.
