Betting Without the Vig: Is It Possible?

Many who love sports or a specific competition are eager to place bets and possibly win some money using their insights and expertise. These pro punters keep a watchful eye on different sportsbooks to find the best deals or most favorable odds. Also, now and again, they come across a match-up where a single team has a high probability of winning, but the payouts on that outcome seem insignificant. 

Now, to get a meaningful reward, they need to wager a substantial amount, and so every increment in the multiplier matters. It’s in these situations where “juice” or vig in gambling starts to matter a lot more. Here we will examine how vig works, what it is, why it exists, and explore the options for betting without vig. 

What is the Vig in Gambling vs Other Casino Parameters

Vig is an abbreviation of the word Vigorish and is also referred to as the cut, juice, or, more formally, sportsbook margin. A more concrete answer to what vig means in gambling is that it’s the percentage of the wager that the bookie gets to keep for himself. For example, if the realistic payout for a specific wager should be 2:1, because the probability of that outcome is around 33,3%, a bookie might have a payout of 1,8:1. The 0,2 part or 10% has been allocated as vig, or bookie margin, and it ensures that a sportsbook gets profit regardless of the outcome.

House Edge in Casino Games 

Casino games have a similar concept, and it’s called the house edge. It is also used to determine how much an operator gets to keep for themselves based on the money spent on a particular game or bet. For example, in roulette, you have so-called 50/50 bets (black/white, high/low, odd/even); however, regardless of your bet, you’ll automatically lose if the ball lands on 0. The very existence of 0 creates a house edge and determines how much a casino can earn from roulette bets.

In pokies, the house edge is a lot higher, and the chance of winning back your bet is lower, but they also have a thing called RTP or Return-to-Player. The RTP is obtained through simulations or it’s based on real-life data, and it indicates the percentage of money that’s been paid to players over the course of tens of thousands of spins. Generally, games with a higher RTP are considered fairer, and players usually opt to play those. Thanks to online pokies mates gamblers can easily find games with high RTP, and find which casino operators host these games. Not only that, they also get tips on which site has the best promotion or incentives for playing specific pokies. 

Can You Bet Without Vig?

Now that we answered what is vig in gambling, let’s see if it’s possible to wager without this markup. Some sportsbook brands do market themselves as non-Vig operators, but in reality, these are social or sweepstakes sportsbooks (Novig App). That said, you will likely find deals on real money betting sites for accumulator bets where, if you put 5 or more matches or if total odds exceed 20 or 30, you get a bonus on the potential payout that offsets the vig.

However, making a single-event bet without vig is almost impossible because that would mean there is no profit for the bookie. The only real way to do it is to have a friendly bet outside of sportsbooks with your friends or family.  Alternatively, you can easily find brands that have a lower markup or simply offer better odds. To do this, you should go over review sites with curated lists of low-vig sportsbooks, but these will most likely be promotional texts that cannot be fully trusted. So, the best way is to actually look at different operators and compare the odds yourself.

Does Vig Mean Odds Are Always Against You? 

Although vig is necessary for the sportsbook to generate profit, it doesn’t mean that odds are always against you. For starters, odds aren’t always affected by a team’s performance and match-up history. Dozens of factors are taken into account to generate and adjust odds, including how people bet. So it’s possible to find great betting opportunities where you can use tools like Kelly’s Criterion and make wagers that are worth your while. 

Additionally, because different bookmakers create different odds on the same matches, it’s still possible to make arbitrage bets. In essence, when the odds discrepancy is big enough, you can back multiple outcomes, using multiple sportsbook operators, and come out on top regardless of the outcome. 

Finally, you can bet on all sorts of things, not just professional sports. In WWE, the whole match is scripted, and stats don’t really reflect the skill gap between fighters. In fact, you’d be more likely to guess who will win based on whether the WWE fighter is a celebrity superstar or not. When you bet, you actively think who would make more sense to win storywise. In other words, you can make wild guesses and still win.