Our sports betting hold calculator shows you how much of a cut a sportsbook is taking on a bet. The better the odds a sportsbook offers, the lower the hold, which means more profit for you if your bet wins.
Simply enter the odds on each side of a bet and click Calculate Hold to see the results.
Sports Betting Hold Calculator
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How to Calculate Hold
To manually calculate hold, you can do the following:
- Convert American odds to Decimal odds:
- Positive odds: 1 + (American Odds/100)
- Negative odds: 1 – (100/American Odds)
- Calculate hold:
- Hold = (1/odds1 + 1/odds2 – 1)*100
- odds1 = 1 – (100/-110) = 1.91
- odds2 = 1 – (100/-110) = 1.91
- Hold = (1/1.91 + 1/1.91 – 1)*100 = 4.71%
Why Hold is Important in Sports Betting
Hold in sports betting is how much money the sportsbook keeps on a betting market after all bets settle. It's also commonly called “juice” or “vig”.
The higher the hold, the less money that is paid out to bettors and vice-versa.
When placing bets, finding the sportsbook with the lowest hold for a particular market helps you maximize your winnings.
For example, a sportsbook with a 4.71% hold for a market keeps $4.71 out of every $100 wagered, while a sportsbook with an 8% hold keeps $8 out of every $100 wagered.
Hold is directly related to the odds on each side of the market. While most sportsbooks offer -110 odds on standard, two-sided bets (a bet with only two outcomes), some offer odds of -111, -115, or worse, meaning you have to win a higher percentage of your bets to turn a profit.
You can use our Odds Comparison Tool to find the sportsbook with the best odds for a given market.
Our Other Betting Tools & Resources
We have a variety of other tools and resources other than our hold calculator that you can use to help with sports betting:
- Betting Odds Payout Calculator: See what your payout would be for a bet given the odds and bet amount.
- Odds to Probability Calculator: See the implied probability for a sports bet based on the odds.
- Parlay Calculator: Calculate the payout of a parlay based on the odds of each individual leg.
- Hedge Calculator: Find the ideal hedge bet amount and guaranteed profit based on your original odds and bet amount.
- Arbitrage Betting Calculator: Calculate how much you should bet on each side of an arbitrage opportunity to maximize your guaranteed profit.
- Free Bet Calculator: See how much profit you can guarantee yourself by betting the other side of a free bet.
- Odds Converter: Convert between the three odds formats including American, Decimal, and Fractional.
- NFL Odds Calculator: See the projected payouts of your NFL bets.
- CLV Calculator: Calculate your closing line value (CLV) based on the odds you got and the closing odds.
- Odds Comparison Tool: Find the sportsbook offering the best odds for the bet you want to make.
- +EV Bets Finder: See bets that have a positive expected value based on the consensus odds at all sportsbooks.
- Arbitrage Bet Finder: See arbitrage betting opportunities that guarantee a profit if you bet both sides.
- How to Read Betting Odds: Learn how to read odds, calculate your payout, and calculate the implied probability of your bet winning in each odds format (American, Decimal, Fractional).
- What Do + and – Mean in Sports Betting? Learn what the pluses and minuses you see next to odds mean and lines mean.
