What Hold (Hold Percentage) means
Hold percentage is the share of total handle a sportsbook keeps as profit after paying out all winning bets on a given market or period. It's a business-level metric distinct from vig on any single bet - a sportsbook's overall hold across an entire NFL season, for instance, is typically in the range of 5–7%, even though the vig on any individual -110 spread is closer to 4.5–4.8%, because hold also captures parlay math, prop markets with wider margins, and the actual distribution of winning and losing bets across all its customers.
Key points
- Hold percentage is the share of total handle a sportsbook keeps as profit after paying out all winning bets on a given market or period.
- It's a business-level metric distinct from vig on any single bet - a sportsbook's overall hold across an entire NFL season, for instance, is typically in the range of 5–7%, even though the vig on any individual -110 spread is closer to 4.5–4.8%, because hold also captures parlay math, prop markets with wider margins, and the actual distribution of winning and losing bets across all its customers.
Example and context
It's a business-level metric distinct from vig on any single bet - a sportsbook's overall hold across an entire NFL season, for instance, is typically in the range of 5–7%, even though the vig on any individual -110 spread is closer to 4.5–4.8%, because hold also captures parlay math, prop markets with wider margins, and the actual distribution of winning and losing bets across all its customers.
Related glossary terms
These terms sit in the same part of the betting vocabulary and are useful to read next.
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