Hold Calculator
Enter both sides of any two-way market (moneyline, spread, total) and instantly see the sportsbook's hold percentage. Lower hold = better expected value for the bettor.
All math runs in your browser. Verdicts compare to industry-standard hold benchmarks.
What is Hold and Why It Matters
Every two-way market has implied probabilities on each side, computed from the odds. In a fair market with no margin, those probabilities sum to exactly 100%. Sportsbooks build their margin by quoting odds where the probabilities sum to more than 100% — the gap above 100% is the hold.
Standard hold benchmarks:
- Under 2%: extremely tight, sharp pricing (Circa NFL spreads, big-game tennis at Pinnacle, etc.)
- 2-5%: tight, competitive (most major-market NFL/NBA spreads at top US books)
- 5-8%: standard (most NFL/NBA totals, MLB run lines, soccer 1X2)
- 8-12%: loose (player props, alternate lines, second-tier sport markets)
- 12%+: wide (futures, novelty markets, low-volume props)
For bettors, lower-hold markets compound dramatically over volume. A 2% hold market versus a 7% hold market is the difference between losing 2 cents and losing 7 cents per dollar wagered to the book's edge — before any skill is applied. Sharp bettors hunt the lowest-hold markets and shop multiple books on each bet.
Frequently Asked
What is sportsbook hold?
Hold (also called "vig", "vigorish", or "juice") is the sportsbook's built-in margin on a market. A two-way market priced -110 / -110 has roughly 4.55% hold: the implied probabilities of both sides add to 104.55% rather than 100%. The 4.55% gap is what the book keeps in expectation if the market is fairly priced.
Why does lower hold matter for bettors?
Lower hold means more of your wager is paid out in expectation. A -105 / -105 market (4.76% hold reduced to about 2.38%) returns substantially more over thousands of bets than a -120 / -120 market (about 9.1% hold). For volume bettors, hunting low-hold markets is the difference between long-term profit and loss.
Which sportsbooks have the lowest hold?
Sharp-friendly books like Circa Sports and Bet365 typically run lower hold (3-5% on most markets) than the major US operators (5-8% standard, sometimes 10%+ on player props or alternate lines). Hold varies sharply by market: NFL spreads are tightest, props and parlays loosest.
Is hold the same as "vig"?
Functionally yes. "Vig" usually refers to the per-side juice quoted on the line ("-110 vig" means -110 odds), while "hold" refers to the total market margin computed across both sides. A -110 / -110 market has -110 vig on each side and roughly 4.55% hold overall.
What about three-way markets like soccer (Win/Draw/Loss)?
Same math, three implied probabilities summed instead of two. This calculator handles two-way markets; for three-way (and tennis tiebreaker, hockey overtime, etc) sum the implied probabilities of all outcomes the same way and subtract 100.