This term “juice” is often used in betting conversations. Bettors track and evaluate it. Doug explains what it means.
Sports betting is complicated and it can be intimidating as a new bettor. We’re here to help.
Noor: It is time for bet-ology where we break down betting terminology the betting world is filled with words I do not understand and today we’re going to discuss one of them uh we’ve heard you say before juice or vig if I had to take a stab at this I don’t think there’s any bad types of juice out there there’s apple juice there’s orange juice pair juice
Doug: In the betting world as a better we hate the juice it’s a it’s a transaction cost so we don’t like it
Noor: okay all right
Doug: anybody who’s bought a stock knows there’s a little percentage right or dollars and cents that you have to pay in order to get buy the stock so the better analogy is sort of the casino right you know the odds are against you based on the math the whether the cards the dice the roulette wheel and then the slop shap and that’s what this is in sports you are laying odds on a straight wager for the opportunity to pay that to to to to do it right right so you are it’s so it’s not 50/50
Noor: correct
you are laying 10% you’re risking 10% of your wager to win that wager so if your risk it’s all in relation to 100 so let’s just do that for the sacred discussion it’s minus10 which means you’re risking $110 to win a 100 the algae I always try to do is a casino floor so the roulette wheel when you bet red or black you often forget about those two little green numbers so the on the roulette wheel yeah and then you scream is only if you bet red you only have a 47.37% chance to get a red but the odds are paid as if it’s 50/50 right because they match your bet you should be getting plus money in theory right right the true odds well in in the sports book but that’s the beauty we don’t have to bet everything on the on the board we don’t have to bet every number on the rouette wheel they’re saying you can bet whatever you want here’s our giant menu any prop over under whatever right but we have calculated all the odds and we have a built-in house Edge that we will take your transaction cost right to offset you getting the difference to pick whatever you want
Noor: and is 10% the standard
Doug: well on a bet so it’s called yes it is the standard easiest way to simplify things but that juice or vig does move okay it it moves much like a point spread will move so it’s not always 10% minus one that’s always part of the equation but essentially what it is it’s just a transaction cost and if you win your bet you get that all back so really ultimately they defay it to half and half in theory that it’s split between the both parties and whatever so they have it all so you have to risk 11 to win 10 so right 10% of 10 is one so you risk the extra dollar to win your 10 and then you get 21 back if you win and the most simplest explanation that’s how it works and that’s how that that cost Edge covers the the tellers of the window the oddsmaker salaries all the stuff all the promotion everything that’s all part of how they run their business and that’s why they’re not going to just give you fair odds much like the casino’s not going to just give you 50% chance of red they throw those they they slap on those two green numbers to to build in their advantage because over time they grind you away in theory
Noor: so this is not the sweet juice I’m used to this
Doug: no this is bad juice but we like it because we get to bet with the juice
Noor: fair enough and that is the juice that’s bet-ology and this is Wager Watch
