The vig — also called juice — is the sportsbook's built-in commission on every wager, and the standard rate on spread and pick'em (PK) bets is -110 on both sides. That means you risk $110 to win $100, regardless of which team you choose.
What Does -110 Actually Mean?
When you see -110 on your bet slip, the number tells you exactly how much you must wager to collect $100 in profit. Stake $110, win $100 back plus your original $110 — total return $210. Lose, and the book keeps your $110. The $10 difference between what you risked and what you could win is, in essence, the sportsbook's fee for taking the other side of your action.
Because both sides of a spread bet are priced at -110, a balanced book collecting equal action on both teams guarantees the operator a margin no matter the outcome. That margin is approximately 4.5% of every dollar wagered when you look at both sides together, but from any single bettor's perspective the math shakes out slightly differently — which leads directly to the break-even question.
Why Do You Need to Win 52.4% of Bets to Break Even?
Divide the amount you risk by the total you get back on a win: $110 ÷ $210 = 52.38%, rounded to 52.4%. Win exactly that share of your bets over a long sample and you neither profit nor lose. Drop below it and the vig eats into your bankroll steadily. The practical cost — that 2.4% above a coin-flip's 50% — is why sharp bettors obsess over finding lines where they believe the true probability of winning is meaningfully higher than 52.4%.
A Real Scenario to Make It Concrete
Say you place ten $110 spread bets on NFL games. You win six and lose four — a 60% win rate, well above break-even. Your six wins return $600 in profit; your four losses cost you $440. Net: +$160. Now flip it: win only five of ten (50%). Profit from wins: $500. Losses: $550. Net: -$50. You won half your bets and still lost money, purely because of the vig. Understanding how NFL spread picks work in this context helps you appreciate why even good handicappers need a strong long-run edge to stay profitable.
Vig on Other Bet Types
The -110 standard applies most consistently to point-spread and pick'em wagers. Moneylines on games with a clear favorite carry asymmetric pricing — the favorite might be -200 while the underdog sits at +170 — but the vig is still baked into the gap between those two numbers. Parlays concentrate the vig across every leg, which is one reason the expected return on a parlay is lower than placing the same bets individually. For a full rundown of terms like moneyline, parlay, and spread, our sports betting glossary covers each one in plain language.
Can You Reduce the Vig You Pay?
Some sportsbooks occasionally offer reduced-juice lines — -105 on both sides instead of -110 — on select markets. At -105 your break-even win rate drops to roughly 51.2%, a meaningful improvement over a large sample. Shopping lines across multiple licensed books is the most practical way to lower the effective vig you pay over time. Legal sportsbooks operating in the 39 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico where sports betting is currently permitted compete on line quality, which benefits active bettors. Must be 21+ in most states (18+ in a few). Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.
The vig is not a scam — it is simply the cost of using a regulated marketplace. Knowing the exact math, and comparing it across operators, is the first step toward treating it as a known variable rather than a hidden trap. For more on how professionals account for this cost when building their predictions, see our guide on how professional handicappers build their picks from raw data.