bookies losing millions at Cheltenham<\/a>, or other big race meetings, or on major events like the Premier League in football.<\/p>\nThis is because bookies rarely operate with a perfectly balanced book and so if results go against them, they can, will and do lose.<\/p>\n
What is a balanced book?<\/h3>\n
![\"Balancing](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/balancing-a-bookmakers-book-800px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The coin toss in cricket is the simplest market to use as an example to demonstrate how a balanced book works. There is a 50% chance the home side wins and a 50% chance the away team do. The true odds for both would be evens but due to the vig bookies might offer 4\/5 (thus giving a book of 111.11% and a very bookie-favourable 11.11% overround).<\/p>\n
A balanced book would see them take exactly the same value of bets on both outcomes, for example \u00a310,000 on each. In such a scenario, come what may, they will take in \u00a320,000 of bets, return \u00a310,000 in successful stakes, \u00a38,000 in winnings and keep \u00a32,000 for themselves. No matter who wins the toss, they are \u00a32,000 to the good.<\/p>\n
In general bookies like to keep a book that is broadly balanced and they adjust their odds to this end. Let us move away from a coin toss and look at a Champions League final between two very evenly matched sides, where both are priced at 10\/11 to lift the trophy. If a bookie starts receiving a lot of money on Team A and none on B, they will reduce the odds of A and increase those of B. Now B are the more attractive proposition and they start seeing wagers on them with the aim that, come kick-off, no matter which side is victorious, they are in the black.<\/p>\n
However, for a range of reasons, achieving a perfectly balanced book, or even an approximately equal one, is either not possible, or not desired. In days gone by it was common for this to be down to a bookie \u201ctaking a position\u201d. By this, we mean that the bookie felt a particular team, horse or player was far more fancied by the market, the masses, than by their odds-setting team.<\/p>\n
In such a scenario the bookie may be happy to continue offering decent odds on a selection, even though they will lose overall if it wins. The bookie has decided the risk is worth it, and that the huge take they will achieve if that pick doesn\u2019t<\/em> win means accepting a loss if it does is a good gamble.<\/p>\nIn modern times, where bookies are huge corporations, rather than one-man-bands or family businesses, taking a position is less common. Bookmakers are far more technology-driven, using data, algorithms and computing power to aim for a balanced book, or close enough, the vast majority of the time.<\/p>\n
However, despite this there are still times when they lose. This is chiefly when lots of favourites win. For example, the article linked to above concerned the 2016 Cheltenham Festival where \u201cnine favourites and one joint favourite won in the 28 races over four days\u201d. When a much-loved (and heavily backed) jolly wins the Grand National, such as Red Rum in the 1970s or more recently Tiger Roll, the bookies also tend to feel the pain. In addition, it is also common for bookies to take a hit when there are lots of home wins on a weekend of football, or lots of goals; and in particular when all the \u201cbig\u201d teams (the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs) win on the same weekend.<\/p>\n
Many punters believe that winners at long odds hurt bookies as they create high payouts but in fact the opposite is true. As we have said, their margin tends to be big on these bets and whilst the odds are long, few punters back massive outsiders. Favourites tend to be the most popular call in all markets and sports. This makes sense as, more or less by definition, they are the selections most likely to win.<\/p>\n
If a bookie wanted they could slash their odds so dramatically that nobody would choose to back that team, player or horse with them. By inflating their prices on the favourite\u2019s rivals they could probably achieve a book that left them in the black most of the time, no matter who won.<\/p>\n
However, this would run the risk of them being seen as uncompetitive on the biggest sports and matches, in particular on the selections that most punters want to back. In the long run, this could see punters start to make most of their bets elsewhere. This could certainly cost them far more money than the occasional hit on the rare occasion when lots of well-backed selections do the business.<\/p>\n
For this reason most betting sites do not tend to go all out for a balanced book all of the time. Once or twice during the football season they may have to pay out on hundreds of decent accumulators covering the most fancied teams. But overall, the vig softens the blow a little bit anyway, even then, and more importantly, the overround on all of their bets means that more often than not they are the ones counting their winnings, not us punters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vigorish is Yiddish slang and originates from the Russian word for winnings and is effectively the bookie\u2019s margin, i.e the charge they apply for their services. Also sometimes referred to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":169,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2024-04-30 14:24:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5245,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416\/revisions\/5245"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Vigorish\"](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/VIGORISH-400px.jpg\")
Vigorish is Yiddish slang and originates from the Russian word for winnings and is effectively the bookie\u2019s margin, i.e the charge they apply for their services. Also sometimes referred to as the juice, cut or take, or simply shortened to vig, it is what keeps the bookmakers rich and the rest of us \u2013 by and large \u2013 not rich.<\/p>\n![\"Calcuclate](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/funny-bookmaker-vigorish-calculator-400px.jpg\")
As noted above, the vigorish and overround are subtly different. Whilst the title of this article uses the word vigorish, it is far more common for punters, comparison sites and tipsters to focus on the overround and that is what we will do here.<\/p>\n![\"Coin](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/coin-toss-800px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/how-much-vig-do-bookies-add-800px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Betting](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/betting-on-sailing-800px.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Balanced](\"https:\/\/www.ukgamblingsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/balanced-book-400px.jpg\")
The fact that bookies offer odds below the fair ones is virtually identical to the way a shop buys a table at one price and then sells it on for more than it cost them.<\/p>\n