No-Vig Calculator

Enter American Odds

What Is the Vig - and Why Remove It?

The vig (short for vigorish, also called juice or margin) is the sportsbook's built-in profit margin on every bet. When a sportsbook posts a line like -110 / -110, the implied probabilities add up to about 104.8% instead of 100%. That extra 4.8% is the vig - the house edge baked into every wager.

To find +EV (positive expected value) bets, you need to know the true probability of each outcome - not the inflated number the sportsbook shows you. Removing the vig strips away the sportsbook's margin and reveals what the odds would look like in a fair, zero-margin market.

Sharp bettors use Pinnacle's odds as a benchmark because Pinnacle runs the lowest margins in the industry (typically 2-3%). Devigging Pinnacle's lines gives you a close approximation of the true probability, which you can then compare against other sportsbooks to find value.

The 5 Devig Methods

• 1. Multiplicative (Basic)The simplest and most common method. Divides each side's implied probability by the total implied probability. Assumes the vig is proportionally distributed - favorites and underdogs get the same percentage haircut. Fast, intuitive, and works well when margins are low.
• 2. Power MethodUses Newton-Raphson iteration to find an exponent k such that the implied probabilities raised to the power k sum to exactly 1. More mathematically rigorous than multiplicative - it assumes the vig distorts odds in a non-linear way.
• 3. AdditiveSubtracts an equal share of the overround from each side. Simple but can produce negative probabilities for heavy underdogs with high vig. Best for low-margin, balanced markets.
• 4. Shin MethodModels the market as containing a proportion z of insider (informed) traders. Assigns more of the vig to the underdog, since insiders are more likely to bet favorites. Considered the most theoretically sound for markets with information asymmetry.
• 5. Probit (Wager)Converts implied probabilities into the probit (inverse normal CDF) space, adjusts for vig symmetrically in that space, then converts back. Favored by some quantitative analysts.

Which Method Should You Use?

For most bettors, Multiplicative or Power are the go-to choices - they are fast, reliable, and nearly identical for low-margin books like Pinnacle. The Shin method is preferred by academics and sharps who believe insider information drives odds. Probit is popular among quantitative sports bettors. Additive is the simplest but least robust, especially on lopsided lines.

In practice, if you are comparing against Pinnacle no-vig lines to find +EV bets, the differences between methods are small (typically less than 0.5%). The bigger edge comes from identifying when a soft sportsbook's line diverges meaningfully from the sharp market.