Vigorish, or simply “vig“, or “juice“, is the amount charged by a bookmaker for his services. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for “winnings,” vyigrysh. The concept is also known as the overround.Bookmakers use this concept to make money on their wagers regardless of the outcome. Because of the vigorish concept, bookmakers should not have an interest in either side winning in a given sporting event. They are interested, however, in getting equal action on each side of the event. In this way, the bookmaker minimizes their risk and always collects a small commission from the vigorish. The bookmaker will normally adjust the odds (or line) to attract equal action on each side of an event.

A common misconception about vigorish is that the loser pays it. Win or lose, all players pay the same commission to the bookmakers. This is figured into all bets beforehand, as illustrated below.

Example

Let’s say two people want to bet on opposing sides of an event with even odds. They are going to make the bet between each other without using the services of a bookmaker. Each person is willing to risk $100 to win $100. After each person pays their $100, there is a total of $200 in the pot. The person who loses receives nothing and the winner receives the full $200.

By contrast, when using a sportsbook, each person must risk or “lay” $110 to win $100. The $10 is, in effect, a bookmaker’s commission for taking the action. This $10 is not “in play” and cannot be doubled by the winning bettor. It can only be lost. A losing bettor simply loses his $110. A winning bettor wins back his original $110, plus his $100 winnings, for a total of $210.

Debate

Since the winning bettor got his full $110 wager back, plus $100 in winnings, many observers will assert that only the losing bettor paid the vigorish. Others would attest that the winner – who had risked $110 and only received $210 in the end, instead of doubling his money to $220 – is the only bettor who paid the vig. Since both bettors lay $110 to win $100, both are paying the vig.

References

DragonBets: Vigorish Explained

Links

• A Crash Course in Vigorish

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Tic-tac (also tick-tack and non-hyphenated variants) is a traditional method of sign language used by bookmakers to communicate the odds of certain horses. It is still used in on-course betting in the UK. A tic-tac man will usually wear bright white gloves to allow their hand movements to be easily seen.A few simple examples of signals:

• Odds of 9/4 (“top of the head”) – both hands touching the top of the head.
• Odds of 10/1 (“cockle” or “net”) – fists together with the right-hand thumb protruding upwards, to resemble the number 10.
• Odds of 33/1 (“double carpet”) – arms crossed, hands flat against the chest.

Within the UK there are some regional variations in the signals, for example in the south odds of 6/4 are represented by the hand touching the opposite ear, giving the slang term “ear’ole”, whereas the same odds are indicated in the north by the hand touching the opposite elbow (“half arm”).

Some of the signals may be called out verbally too. These names have evolved over time in a mixture of Cockney rhyming slang and backslang. For example, 4-1 is known as rouf (four backwards).

Essentially, the bookies use tic-tac as a way of communicating between their staff and ensuring their odds are not vastly different from their competitors, an advantage the punters could otherwise exploit. In particular, if a very large bet is placed with one bookmaker, this may be signalled to the others as a way of lowering the price on all the boards.

British racing pundit John McCririck uses tic-tac as part of his pieces to camera when explaining the odds of the horses for the next race.

The language is used less frequently than before, due in part to the use of radio communication by betting companies.

Links

• The Observer: How to… be a tic-tac man
• BBC Online guide to tic-tac

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Starting price or SP bookmaking literally refers to taking bets at fixed odds, i.e. a fixed starting price, as opposed to the totalisator model of betting. This form of gambling was only legal in Australia for bookmakers operating on the course or racetrack, and so a large telephone based SP bookmaking industry started, leading to the term SP bookie becoming synonymous with a criminal bookmaker operating off-course in competition with the authorized on-course bookmakers and the totalisator (or tote). SP quickly became a large area of vice, intimately associated with police corruption and racetrack rigging. Several Royal Commissions investigated the practice, and there were many attempts to eradicate it. It is unclear the extent to which it still occurs.Starting Price is also used as a UK colloquial term: “What’s the SP?” as a general “What’s happened?/where are we with this?/how are we doing?” enquiry from someone just arriving, as a derivation of the sense “At what odds are we betting on this race at which I’ve just arrived?”

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

A bookmaker, bookie or turf accountant, is an organisation or a person that takes bets and may pay winnings depending upon results and, depending on the nature of the bet, the odds. Bookmaking may be legal or illegal, and may be regulated; in the United Kingdom it was at times both regulated and illegal, in that licences were required but no debts arising from gambling could be enforced through the courts. Bookmaking is generally illegal in the United States, with Nevada being a notable exception.In some countries, such as Singapore and Canada, the only legal bookmaker is state-owned and operated. In Canada, this is part of the lottery program and is known as Sport Select.

Most bookmakers in the USA bet on college and professional sports, though in the UK they offer a wider range of bets, notably on political elections. The probability that it will snow on Christmas day is another common event for betting in the UK.

By adjusting the odds in his favour or by having a point spread, the bookmaker will aim to guarantee a profit by achieving a ‘balanced book’, either by getting an equal number of bets for each outcome, or (when he is offering odds) by getting the amounts wagered on each outcome to reflect the odds. When a large bet comes in, a bookmaker can also try to lay off the risk by buying bets from other bookmakers. The bookmaker does not generally attempt to make money from the bets themselves, but rather profiting from the event regardless of the outcome.

Traditionally, bookmakers have been located at the racecourse, but improved TV coverage and laxer laws have allowed betting in shops and casinos in most countries. In the UK, bookies still chalk up the odds on boards beside the race course and use tic-tac to signal the odds between their staff and to other bookies.

In 1961, Harold Macmillan’s Conservative Government legalized betting shops and tough measures were enacted to ensure that bookmakers remained honest. A large and respectable industry has grown since. At one time there were over 15,000 betting shops in the U.K. Now, through consolidation, they have been reduced to about 8,500. Currently there are four major bookmakers in the United Kingdom: William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, and state-owned ToteSport.

Increasingly, gamblers are turning to the use of betting exchanges which automatically match Back and Lay bets between different bettors, thus effectively cutting out the bookmaker’s traditional profit margin. Some bookmakers have even taken to using betting exchanges as a way of laying off unfavourable bets and thus reducing their overall exposure.

Sometimes, savvy individuals set up an illegal book in an attempt to make money – a scene often seen in films, sitcoms and so on. One of the most infamous real-life illegal bookmakers was Robert Angleton of Houston, Texas. Not only was he a bookie, but he also was a police informant about his smaller rivals. When they were shuttered, he took their business. His bookmaking scheme ended with the death of his wife, Doris Angleton.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.