Vigorish

Suppose you bet on a Football game between the Giants and the Jets and the line was listed as Giants minus 3. That means if you bet on the Giants, you gave three points and if you took the Jets, you would get 3 points.

Now, the bookie has to make some money on the action, so he adds on a charge to you for the right to make that bet.  
Suppose you were betting $50 and liked the Jets. You would say, "Gimme the Jets plus 3." If you won, you got $50. If you lost, you'd pay $55. That $5 extra charge is called vigorish.  
Let's say your buddy called the same guy and liked the Giants. He'll say, "Gimme the Giants minus 3." If he won, he'd get $50. If he lost, he'd have to pay $55.  
The bookie doesn't give a rat's tail who wins. He's going to collect $55 from somebody and pay the other guy $50.  
Maybe during the course of a day he writes $5000 in business on that game and it just happens to be an even split of Jets' and Giants' action (which, of course, the house likes).  
When the game is over he'll pay out $5000 in losses and collect $5500. The extra $500 is vigorish. This vig is attached to every single game you bet on Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat, Horses, Sports betting, anything.  
The idea is to bet on the game that has the least Vigorish attached to it. Look at Roulette.Suppose 15 is your number. You place $1. On that digit you have one way of winning and now you must figure how many ways you have to lose.  
Since there are 36 numbers on the lay out, plus 0 and 00, that means you have 37 ways to lose as opposed to the single chance that 15 will show. They pay you 35 to 1 on a number straight up. The true payoff would be 37.  
The difference between what they should pay and what they do pay is called “vig”. In this case it is 5.26% against you. This isn't rotten, but it is an uphill grind.  
In Roulette every single bet whether it is straight up, streets, columns, or quads has a built in house vig of 5.26% with only one single solitary exception. The exception is the 5 number grouping of 0 00 1 2 3. You get 5 numbers and the payoff is 6 to 1. Here the vig is 7.38%.  
Before some of you sharpies choke on your knowledge, let me ease the discomfort by telling you that there are bets that are lower than the 5.26% and they are the outside bets of Black, Red, High, Low, Odd or Even.  
If you play on a wheel that has only a single zero, like many wheels in Europe, all of the bets have a house edge of only 2.63%.  
In Atlantic City there is a house rule whereby the 0 and 00 apply to the inside bets thru 36, but that the rules change on the "outside" bets.  
Let's say you bet $5 on "Even" and zero shows. You only lose half your bet or $2.50. This automatically cuts the vig down to 2.63% on all those "Outside" bets. The house still keeps 0 and 00 on the wheel and layout to apply against the "Inside" bets.  
Naturally, it is in your best interest to find a table with one zero. Since most of these are in Europe, you'll miss quite a few suppers making the daily trip overseas.  
Next move would be to find and play at the tables where the house takes only half your bet on the "Outside" plays, when the 0 or 00 shows.  
You get an idea of what Vigorish is, but before you form an opinion on it; digest the message in the next article.