A standard betting line is a spread or total priced at -110 on both sides: you risk $110 to win $100, whichever side you take. The extra $10 is the vig, also called the juice, and it is how the sportsbook gets paid on a bet that would otherwise be a coin flip.
It is the default price for point spreads and totals in American sports betting. This page shows what -110 costs you, how often you have to win to break even, and how this week’s NFL prices compare.
What -110 means
A minus sign in American odds tells you how much you risk to win $100. At -110 you put up $110; if the bet wins you get back $210, your $110 plus $100 profit. If it loses, the $110 is gone.
A bet on one side of a spread is close to an even proposition, so a fair price would be +100 on both sides: risk $100 to win $100. The standard line asks you to risk $10 more for the same $100, and that difference is the sportsbook’s margin.
How often you have to win
To break even at -110 you have to win 110 / 210 = 52.38% of your bets. Win 11 bets and lose 10 at $110 each and you finish exactly level: 11 x $100 won, 10 x $110 lost, both $1,100.
That 52.38% is the number every spread bettor is measured against. A record of 55% against the spread at -110 is a profit; 51% is a loss, even though it is more wins than losses.
How much the sportsbook keeps
Picture a book that takes $110 on each side of the same game. It holds $220, pays the winner $210 and keeps $10, which is 4.55% of the money bet.
Add the two sides’ implied chances and you see the same margin from the other direction: each -110 side implies 52.38%, and the pair adds to 104.76%, not 100%. Our overround guide works through that sum for any market, and the bookie guide shows where the margin goes.
Not every line is -110
A sportsbook can also change the price instead of the number. DraftKings’ NFL Week 7 board, read on ESPN at 2:09 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, had 14 games, and only one spread was -110 on both sides: Broncos at Cardinals, Denver -4.5. Six of the 14 totals were -110 both ways.
The others were shaded. The Patriots at Bears spread was Chicago -3, with New England +3 at -118 and Chicago -3 at -102. Those two prices imply 54.13% and 50.50%, a total of 104.62%, so the book’s cut, 4.42%, is almost the same as at -110. The price split moved; the margin did not.
| Prices on the two sides | Implied chances | Total | Book’s margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| -110 / -110 | 52.38% / 52.38% | 104.76% | 4.55% |
| -112 / -108 | 52.83% / 51.92% | 104.75% | 4.54% |
| -115 / -105 | 53.49% / 51.22% | 104.71% | 4.50% |
| -118 / -102 | 54.13% / 50.50% | 104.62% | 4.42% |
| -105 / -105 | 51.22% / 51.22% | 102.44% | 2.38% |
The last row is a reduced-juice line. At -105 on both sides you risk $105 to win $100, your break-even drops to 51.22%, and the book keeps about half of what it keeps at -110.
What it changes for a bettor
Five cents of price is worth looking for. Moving from -110 to -105 lowers the win rate you need from 52.38% to 51.22%, more than a full point, on every bet you make at that price.
Before you bet, turn the price into the win rate it needs with our odds calculator, and compare it with the side you trust. How spreads themselves work is in what the spread means in betting.