How Do You Calculate The Bookmakers Margin?
A bookmaker makes money because he creates a market for people who wish to bet on a game or event. Ideally the bookmaker doesn’t care who wins because they’ll make money no matter the outcome. This money is referred to as the juice, the vig, or the bookmaker’s margin. Here’s how to calculate it, so you know how much money the bookie is taking off the top. Locate the odds of the money line. Money line odds are written in positive and negative numbers. The positive number means the team is an underdog, while the negative number means the team is a favorite. These numbers are always based on winning or betting $100. As an example pretend the money line reads the following for an upcoming football game: Bears – 185 Broncos +165 In this money line, the Bears are heavily favored to beat the Broncos. This line means that you’d have to be $185 on the Bears to win $100 and for a $100 bet on the Broncos you’d win $165. Convert the money line to an odds percentage. From the above example you woul
