{
  "slug": "sportsbook-hold-percentage-calculator",
  "title": "Sportsbook Hold Percentage Calculator",
  "heading": "Sportsbook Hold Percentage Calculator",
  "category": "math",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/sportsbook-hold-percentage-calculator",
  "summary": "Calculate the vig/hold a sportsbook is baking into any two-way market.",
  "description": "Hold percentage (also called vig, juice, or overround) is the built-in edge a sportsbook has on a market before any bets are placed, expressed as a percentage of total handle the book expects to keep across a perfectly balanced book. This calculator takes both sides of a two-way market in American odds and computes the exact hold percentage, giving you a quick way to compare pricing quality across sportsbooks or bet types. Standard game lines (spreads, totals) at major US books typically hold 4-5% at standard -110/-110 pricing; reduced-juice promotions can bring that down to 2-3%; player props and same-game parlays commonly run much higher, sometimes 8-15% or more. Checking hold before betting regularly is one of the simplest, lowest-effort habits that meaningfully improves long-run results, since a lower-hold market requires a smaller true edge to be profitable than a high-hold one offering the same bet.",
  "formula": "Hold % = (implied probability of side A + implied probability of side B) − 100%, using standard American-to-probability conversion on each side.",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=sportsbook-hold-percentage-calculator",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "sideA",
      "label": "Side A odds (American)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": -110,
      "unit": null,
      "min": null,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "sideB",
      "label": "Side B odds (American)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": -110,
      "unit": null,
      "min": null,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "hold",
      "label": "Hold percentage",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "pa",
      "label": "Side A implied probability",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "pb",
      "label": "Side B implied probability",
      "format": "percent",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Side A odds (American): -110",
      "Side B odds (American): -110"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Hold percentage: 4.76%",
      "Side A implied probability: 52.38%",
      "Side B implied probability: 52.38%"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter side a odds (american).",
      "Enter side b odds (american).",
      "Read your hold percentage on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "sideA": -65,
        "sideB": -65
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "sideA": -110,
        "sideB": -110
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "sideA": -175,
        "sideB": -175
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are rounded for display; the underlying calculation keeps full precision.",
    "Very large or very small inputs may hit floating-point limits in the browser.",
    "Inputs outside the accepted range are clamped rather than rejected."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "What's considered a 'good' hold for a standard game line?",
      "a": "Around 4.5% is standard for a typical -110/-110 spread or total in the US market. Anything under 3% (often seen in reduced-juice promotions or on very liquid markets like NFL sides at sharp books) is considered good value; anything meaningfully over 5-6% on a plain two-way line is worth shopping elsewhere."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why do moneylines on lopsided games have higher hold than close spreads?",
      "a": "Pricing a heavy favorite's moneyline (like -400) alongside its underdog (+320) tends to produce more hold than a balanced spread, partly because there's less two-sided betting interest to keep the book competitively tight, and partly because small odds movements near large numbers translate to bigger implied-probability swings."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does hold percentage relate to my required win rate?",
      "a": "Higher hold directly raises the win rate you need to break even, since more of the total pool is being taken by the book before payouts happen. This is the same underlying math as the break-even win rate calculation for a single line, generalized to describe the whole two-way market rather than just one side."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/no-vig-fair-odds",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/implied-probability-calculator",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/breakeven-win-rate-calculator"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Sportsbook Hold Percentage Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/sportsbook-hold-percentage-calculator)"
}