What Does Juice Mean In Betting

1. What Does 160 Mean Betting

What Does Juice Mean In Sports Betting?
by Doc's Sports - 10/9/2014

Juice or “vig” is simply the percentage a sportsbook “charges” for offering odds on sports betting events. As we all know, there are no membership fees to join and bet at a sportsbook and contrary to the popular belief, the sportsbooks don't make money from the people that lost their bets.

The juice is the primary way that sportsbooks make money - the commission they take on bets. It is also commonly referred to as vigorish, or just vig.

We’ll use an example to see how the juice works. The standard price for a pointspread or total bet is -110. That means that you have to bet $110 to make a profit of $100 on both sides. Let’s say that $1,100 is bet on each team, and the underdog covers the spread. Bettors on the underdog will make a combined $1,000 in profit. Bettors on the favorite will lose their $1,100 in combined bets. The sportsbooks will use $1,000 of those $1,100 in losses to pay the winning bettors. Left over is $100. That’s the juice - the commission on the bets, and the profit for sportsbooks.

• WHAT DOES JUICE MEAN IN THE CONTEXT OF SPORTS BETTING? The initial objective of anyone who starts their adventure in sports betting is definitely making money. We can treat it as a hobby, or even as a leisure activity, or we can be purely professional, but at the end of the day, we all want to be profitable.
• Juice is another name for vig, which is the cut or amount charged by a sportsbook for taking a bet. The sportsbook only collects the juice if the bettor loses the wager. For example, a point spread is often listed with -110 odds. If the Eagles are -6.5 point favorites, that would be at -110 odds. If there was no juice, it would be at even odds, or +100. With the juice, a $100 bet would result in a $190 payout.

People assume that sportsbooks are trying to be smarter than bettors - out-handicapping them and winning more games to make their profit. That’s just not the case. It’s all about the juice for books - at least ideally. Just think about it - if the books can get approximately balanced amounts of action on both sides of a game then they can make a guaranteed profit no matter how the game turns out. That is far more attractive for them than having exposure to one side or the other and hoping for the best. Books, then, are in the business of getting balanced action - they are market makers. The reason that lines move is because either action is more tilted to one team than the other and the movement makes the underappreciated team more attractive, or because the books anticipate unbalanced action because of a development like an injury and they are moving to minimize the impact of the action. When linemakers set lines, then, they aren’t necessarily trying to figure out who is going to win the game and by how much. They are focused on how they think you and the rest of the bettors are going to perceive a game, and where they need to set the line to drive balanced action. The better you can understand that and all that it means, the stronger you will be as a bettor.

Doc's Sports is offering $60 worth of handicapper picks absolutely free - no obligation, no sales people - you don't even have to enter credit card information. You can use this $60 credit any way you please for any handicapper and any sport on Doc's Sports Advisory Board list of expert sports handicappers. Click here for more details and take advantage of this free $60 picks credit today .

Hockey is one of the fastest and most exciting sports in the world, and betting it can be equally exciting. While handicapping and picking winners is usually the focal point, there are a wide variety of different ways to wager on hockey. Here are some descriptions of the various types of hockey bets.

Money Line – Money lines are simply betting on which team will win the game outright, and is the most straightforward and popular type of hockey bet. Games featuring two teams with the same juice on both sides such as -110 each (bet $110 to win $100) are extremely rare, as there is almost always at least a slight favorite. Home ice advantage often plays a big role in how the lines are set. Top teams at home against lower-level teams can be huge favorites (up into the -300 range, bet $300 to win $100). This in turn leads to big prices on underdogs (in the +250 range, bet $100 to win $250).

Over/Under – Bookmakers set a total for each game and bettors wager on whether the total amount of goals scored between the two teams will go over or under that set total, that is how over/unders work. The total is almost always set in the 5.0 to 6.0 range, with the majority of games set at 5.5. 5.0 is a key number because since the shootout was instituted, there are no longer ties in hockey, and the shootout winner is awarded a goal. Therefore, every game that goes to overtime 2-2 will result in a 3-2 final score, or a push at Over/Under 5.0. Bettors generally have to pay extra juice when betting the OVER 5.0 or UNDER 5.5.

Puck Line – As opposed to betting games on the moneyline, bettors can opt to play the puck line, in which each game has a set point spread of -1.5 on the favorite and +1.5 on the underdog. Wagering the puck line favorite at -1.5 offers a much more attractive price than the money line does, while betting the underdog +1.5 adds some security for more juice. One huge advantage for underdog puckline bettors is overtime, where +1.5 is always a winner unlike in other major sports. On the other hand, teams’ tendencies to pull their goalie when down one goal late in the game often results in empty net goals, which heavily favor puck line bettors on the favorite.

Point Spread – Many books offer more exotic point spreads such as 2.5 or 3.5 in addition to the standard puck line of -1.5/+1.5. Due to the low-scoring nature of hockey, larger point spreads result in very lucrative payouts for favorite bettors and high juice for underdog backers taking the multiple goals. Another form of point spread betting is the “alternative puckline”, where the underdog and favorite are switched and the odds are adjusted accordingly.

Regulation Time – Another alternative to money line or puck line betting is regulation time betting, where a bettor bets the favorite at -0.5 or the underdog at +0.5. Favorite bettors get a better price on their side by betting on them to win in regulation, while underdog bettors pay a bit more juice and win if their side wins OR the game goes to overtime.

Parlay – A hockey parlay is a bet in which two or more hockey sides are selected, and all must win for the parlay to pay off. The more events that are chosen, the more the hockey parlay bet pays if it is successful. In games with two bad goaltenders/defenses, many bettors like to parlay their moneyline side with the OVER, while games expected to be defensive struggles can be parlayed with the UNDER. While it is legal to parlay a money line and the Over/Under in the same game, bettors cannot parlay the puck line with the Over/Under.

Proposition – Also known as “prop” bets, propositions include placing bets on various elements of the game including player and team statistics. Some examples of hockey prop bets include betting on which team will score first or last, or an Over/Under on team shot totals.

Grand Salami – Before any of the day’s games start, a grand salami hockey bet is available at many sportsbooks, in which all of the day’s Over/Under totals are added together and bettors can bet on whether the combined goals scored over the entire day will be over or under the posted total.

What Does 160 Mean Betting

First Period – As the name indicates, first period wagering is betting strictly on the first period (20 minutes) of play. These wagers are either offered in moneyline form (with a tied period resulting in a push) or with a -0.5/+0.5 point spread. Some sportsbooks also offer second and third period betting, which follow the same rules.