Definition of "vigorish"

The house sets vigs on any game they allow you to bet on. It is your responsibility to play only those games where the vig is not prohibitive. Let's take one more look at how vigorish works for the house.

1984, John Patrick, Craps, page 11

The bookmaker's mean profit per dollar bet is called vigorish or “the vig.” In our example, 11 + 11 = $22 is bet, and the bookmaker wins $1 so the vig is 1/22 = 4.5%.

2009, Wayne L. Winston, Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics, page 256

His clients included wealthy women who possessed jewelry of great value, a fact which did not escape the loan shark. When it became apparent that the hairdresser could not meet his substantial vigorish payments, he was pressed into service as a "fingerman" for a burglary ring.

1976, “The Loan-Shark Racket”, in Ianni, Francis A. J., Reuss-Ianni, Elizabeth, editors, The Crime Society, page 217

They lend you a thousand and call it a bone. It cost a hundred a week vigorish to borrow the bone.

2013, Harry Brooks, Everybody Does Business, page 356

I was asking a man who had never bent a rule in his entire life to do it once. This wasn't Italy or France, where such miracles are possible with a little political vigorish. This was Switzerland, where nothing like this ever happens.

1999, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit, published 2005, page 216