Vig & Hold Calculator

Vig vs hold — what’s the difference?

Both describe the bookmaker’s margin, but they measure it slightly differently:

• Vig (overround) is how far the combined implied probability sits above a fair 100%. Prices of 1.90 / 1.90 imply 105.3%, so the vig is 5.3%.
• Holdis the share of total turnover the book expects to keep if money lands evenly on both sides. It’s the vig expressed against the inflated total: 5.3% ÷ 105.3% ≈ 5.0%.

Vig is always a little larger than hold. People use the terms loosely, but hold is the number that best reflects what the market actually costs you.

How it’s calculated

• Overround = 1/odds A + 1/odds B.
• Vig = overround − 100%.
• Hold = 1 − (1 ÷ overround).

Typical hold ranges

On mainstream two-way markets, sharp low-margin books often hold 2–4%, mainstream books 4–7%, and exotic or multi-way markets can run into double digits. The lower the hold, the closer the posted price is to the true price — which is exactly why low-hold books are the best reference for finding fair odds.

Why lower-hold books matter

Every dollar of hold is a headwind on your results. Betting into a 2% market instead of a 7% market is one of the simplest, most reliable edges available — before you’ve even found a +EV price. Knowing the hold tells you which books are worth your turnover.

How Winora helps

Winora continuously measures hold across every Australian book and anchors its fair-value models to the sharpest, lowest-margin markets — then surfaces the +EV and arbitrage gaps that result, straight to your Discord.