What Is De-Vigging (and How to Find the Real Odds Behind Every Bet)
Every sportsbook builds profit into the odds. Learning to strip out the vig reveals the true market pricing and gives you a clearer picture of real value.
What Is De-Vigging (and How to Find the Real Odds Behind Every Bet)
Every sportsbook builds profit into the odds.
It's called the vig, or juice — the small edge that ensures the house always wins in the long run.
Most bettors never think about it.
But if you care about expected value, or true market pricing, you need to strip the vig out of every line you look at.
That's called de-vigging, and it's one of the simplest ways to see what the odds really mean.
What the Vig Actually Is
When a sportsbook posts odds, they're not offering you fair 50-50 chances.
They add a small percentage on both sides to make sure they profit regardless of outcome.
Example:
- Team A: 1.91
- Team B: 1.91
Those prices imply each side has a 52.36% chance to win — not 50%.
That 2.36% is the vig.
Why De-Vigging Matters
If you don't remove the vig, you're evaluating a bet on the book's terms, not reality.
De-vigging converts those inflated implied probabilities back to true probabilities, showing the real break-even point.
It lets you:
- Compare lines across books accurately
- Identify which side is overpriced or underpriced
- Calculate true expected value (EV) without hidden margins
How to De-Vig Odds (The Simple Way)
You can do it manually:
- Convert both sides' odds into implied probabilities
- Add them together
- Divide each by the total to normalize back to 100%
Example:
- Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.83 → 54.6%
- Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.00 → 50%
Total = 104.6% (includes 4.6% vig)
Now divide each side by 1.046:
- Over = 52.2%
- Under = 47.8%
Those are the true probabilities — the book's modeling without the cut.
How The Prop Hound Uses De-Vigging
Inside The Prop Hound, every EV calculation begins with de-vigged lines.
We don't take a sportsbook's raw odds at face value.
We first strip out the vig, then calculate the expected value using those true probabilities and the best available prices across books.
That's why two identical-looking markets can have different EV ratings — one book's vig is just heavier than the other's.
How to Use De-Vigged Data
Once you're looking at vig-free numbers, you can:
- Spot true value when one book's price deviates from market consensus
- Combine with arbitrage scanning to verify if a trade is genuinely risk-free
- Rank sportsbooks by fairness of pricing over time
It's one of those quiet edges that compounds — the more bets you place with accurate EV, the more your bankroll curve smooths upward.
Final Thoughts
The vig is invisible to most bettors, but it's the single biggest drag on profitability.
If you can't see it, you're playing blind.
De-vigging gives you clarity — the truth behind the odds — so you can bet with math, not marketing.
👉 See how The Prop Hound de-vigs and ranks markets in real time at ThePropHound.com.
Want real-time de-vigged odds and EV analysis? Join The Prop Hound for expert picks and arbitrage opportunities throughout the season.