This calculator may also be used to determine the theoretical hold (also known as vig or juice) charged by a book on a given market. Likewise, if a given contest had 4 possible outcomes (such as, say, the number of contestants remaining on a season of American Idol, or the number of teams remaining in the NCAA tournament) and by shopping lines at different book you were able to find odds of +400 on each one to win, then by betting the same amount on each team or contestant you’d have the same profitable result (+25%) regardless of the outcome. This is where a bettor may secure risk-free profits by betting on every possible outcome of the event.įor example, if one book were offering the Yankees to win against the Blue Jays at -150, and another book were offering the Blue Jays to win against the Yankees at +155, then for every $100 you bet on the Yankees, were you to bet $65.36 on the Blue Jays, you’d guarantee a risk-free profit of $1.31 or 0.791%.
If the odds offered on the different outcomes of a bet are sufficiently large then a profitable opportunity called a scalp exists.
