Bookmaker margin (overround) explained
The odds on your ticket include a built-in profit for the bookmaker. That profit is the margin.
What the margin is
Bookmakers do not offer fair prices. They shave every price a little, so that over many bets they keep a share. This is called the margin, the vig, or the overround. It is not a fee you see. It is hidden inside the odds, which is why every pick looks a bit likelier than it really is.
A worked example
Take one match with three outcomes (home win, draw, away win) at these odds:
- Home win at 1.75. Chance implied: 1 ÷ 1.75 = 57.1%
- Draw at 4.08. Chance implied: 1 ÷ 4.08 = 24.5%
- Away win at 4.71. Chance implied: 1 ÷ 4.71 = 21.2%
One of these three must happen, so fair chances would add up to exactly 100 percent. Here they add up to 57.1 + 24.5 + 21.2 = 102.9%. That total, 102.9%, is the overround: 2.9% on top of 100. The bookmaker's margin on this market is about 2.8 to 2.9%.
Taking the margin out
To get the real chances, we scale the three numbers back so that they add up to 100 percent. Each chance gets a little smaller. The home win drops from 57.1% to about 55.5%. This is the idea behind the "real chance" you see on TicketCheck. See how it works for the full method.
How the margin stacks on a ticket
A single market with a small margin does not look like much. But an accumulator uses many markets, and the margin is in each of them. Every leg looks a bit likelier than it is, and the errors multiply together just like the odds do. A ticket with ten legs can look far better than it is. Read what an accumulator is to see why the chances shrink so fast.
What "per 100 staked" means
TicketCheck also shows the bookmaker's cut per 100 staked. It answers a simple question. If you placed this same ticket many times, how much of every 100 you stake would the bookmaker be expected to keep, through the margin alone? The more legs, the bigger that number. It is an average over many bets. It does not tell you what will happen on one ticket.
What you can do about it
- Fewer legs means less margin stacked up.
- Check the weakest leg and think about dropping it.
- Compare tickets before you stake.
- Stake only what you can afford to lose.
See the margin on your ticket
Paste a booking code and we show the real chance and the bookmaker's cut. If the code will not load, read why a code may not load.
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Questions people ask
What is the bookmaker margin?
It is the extra the bookmaker builds into its prices so that it makes a profit over time. It is also called the overround or the vig.
What is the overround?
It is the total of all the implied chances in one market. Fair prices would add up to 100 percent. Bookmaker prices add up to more, for example 102.9 percent. That total is the overround, and the extra 2.9 percent is the margin, about 2.8 to 2.9 percent of what is staked.
How do I work out the margin myself?
Turn each odds number into a chance by dividing 1 by the odds. Add the chances together. Whatever is above 100 percent is the margin.
Does the margin stay the same on a ticket with many legs?
No. It is built into every leg, so it stacks. A ticket with many legs carries much more of the bookmaker's cut than a single bet.
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