vigorish
English
Etymology
From Yiddish וויגריש (vigrish), from Russian вы́игрыш (výigryš, “winnings”).
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
vigorish (countable and uncountable, plural vigorishes)
- (uncountable, slang) A charge taken on bets, as by a bookie or gambling establishment.
- 2009, Wayne L. Winston, Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics, page 256:
- 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%.
- (uncountable, slang) The interest on a loan of money, especially for loans made by a usurer or loan shark.
- 1976, “The Loan-Shark Racket”, in Ianni, Francis A. J., Reuss-Ianni, Elizabeth, editors, The Crime Society, page 217:
- 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.
- (countable, slang) An amount owed on account of or payment of a bookie's charge or of interest.
- (slang) A commission or similar extra charge.
- 1999, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit, published 2005, →ISBN, page 216:
- 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.
Synonyms
- (charge on bets): overround, rake, house take, house cut, house advantage, vig
- (loan interest): vig, rake off, cut