What is "hold" and why it matters
Hold — sometimes called vig, juice or margin — is the operator's expected profit percentage on a given market, calculated from the implied probabilities of the offered odds. A market priced at -110/-110 (both sides) has approximately 4.55% hold: the operator expects to keep 4.55 cents of every dollar wagered over enough repetitions of that market.
Lower hold is better for bettors. A market with 3% hold is meaningfully better-priced than the same market at 5% hold. Over a year of active betting, that 2-percentage-point difference is thousands of dollars of expected value transfer.
July 2026 hold rates by sport (standard sides)
Average hold on straight-side markets (spreads and moneylines) across major US sports.
| Operator | NFL sides | NBA sides | MLB sides | NHL sides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bet365 | 4.2% | 4.1% | 4.3% | 4.4% |
| FanDuel | 4.5% | 4.4% | 4.5% | 4.5% |
| DraftKings | 4.5% | 4.5% | 4.5% | 4.6% |
| BetMGM | 4.6% | 4.5% | 4.6% | 4.7% |
| Caesars | 4.7% | 4.6% | 4.7% | 4.8% |
| Fanatics | 4.8% | 4.7% | 4.8% | 4.9% |
| ESPN Bet | 5.0% | 4.9% | 5.0% | 5.1% |
| BetRivers | 5.2% | 5.1% | 5.2% | 5.3% |
July 2026 hold rates by market type (blended across sports)
| Operator | Sides | Alt lines | Player props | SGP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bet365 | 4.3% | 5.5% | 7.8% | 14% |
| FanDuel | 4.5% | 6.2% | 8.5% | 17% |
| DraftKings | 4.5% | 6.4% | 8.8% | 18% |
| BetMGM | 4.6% | 6.5% | 9.1% | 19% |
| Caesars | 4.7% | 6.8% | 9.5% | 20% |
| Fanatics | 4.8% | 7.1% | 10.2% | 21% |
| ESPN Bet | 5.0% | 7.5% | 10.8% | 22% |
| BetRivers | 5.2% | 7.8% | 11.5% | 23% |
Key findings
- Sides pricing is competitive at the top. bet365, FanDuel, and DraftKings all price standard sides within 30 basis points of each other. The pricing spread between the tightest and loosest operator on standard sides is roughly 100 bps — historically wider than in most other US markets.
- Prop hold is 2-3x standard sides hold. This is where operators make disproportionate margin, and where line-shopping produces the largest edge for bettors. If you bet a lot of props, holding accounts at 3+ books and shopping every wager is worth 2-5% of ROI.
- SGP hold is enormous. Same-game parlay hold rates run 14-23% depending on operator and number of legs. This is by design — SGP hold multiplies because correlated-leg parlays don't compound as favorably as the operator claims.
- bet365 is the current price leader. Consistent tightest-hold operator across every market category. This partially explains bet365's slow-but-steady US market-share growth.
Methodology
Hold rates are calculated from live market pricing observed via our real-money accounts at each operator, sampled across a rolling 30-day window ending on publication date.
Market sample: 20+ markets per operator per sport per week. Markets are selected via structured random sampling from the full available book, weighted toward high-volume games (primetime NFL, major-market NBA/MLB) proportional to real-world handle.
Hold calculation: for two-sided markets, hold = (1/decimal_odds_side_A + 1/decimal_odds_side_B) - 1, expressed as percentage. For three-way markets (draw available), the same principle extended to three implied probabilities.
Sampling timing: markets are sampled at closing pricing where possible — the price available in the final hour before market close. For markets still live at sampling time, we record intraday pricing at 6-hour intervals.
Sample-size disclaimer: hold rates for niche or low-liquidity markets can vary substantially week-to-week. Our figures are means across a large-enough sample to reduce this variance to under 20 basis points for standard-side markets, though variance can be higher for player-prop and SGP categories.
How to use this data
The practical use of hold-rate data is line-shopping decisions. If you're a casual bettor placing wagers primarily on standard sides, the pricing difference between operators is small and access + UX preferences may outweigh the pricing advantage.
If you're a volume bettor, or if you bet meaningful amounts on props or SGPs, the pricing data above translates directly to expected-value transfer. Even a 50-basis-point improvement on average hold, applied across a year of betting activity, is a meaningful sum.
For the mechanics of line shopping and calculating your effective hold, see our hold and vig explainer and closing-line-value guide.
Related resources
- Withdrawal speed tracker — companion data resource
- Individual operator reviews
- Odds converter
- Trust & Transparency
Cite this data
This dataset is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite with the following attribution:
Source: BettingOnline.org US Sportsbook Hold Rate Tracker, July 16, 2026
URL: https://www.bettingonline.org/data/hold-rate-tracker/