Australian Football League betting offers a distinctive challenge compared to other major sports. Games routinely produce combined scores north of 150 points, with individual team totals swinging dramatically based on conditions and matchups. This high-scoring, fast-paced nature creates volatility that bookmakers must account for, which in turn opens opportunities for sharp bettors who understand the sport's rhythms. Market depth is solid for a non-US league — head-to-head, line, and totals are widely available, while player props, margin betting, and quarter-by-quarter markets have expanded significantly in recent years, particularly on books catering to the Australian market.
Vig on AFL markets tends to sit in a moderate range, generally wider than what you'd find on NFL or NBA lines but tighter than most niche sports. Head-to-head markets typically carry margins between 4% and 7% at mainstream books, though sharp-friendly operators can push that closer to 3%. Line betting (the AFL equivalent of a spread, usually set at a fixed 6.5 or adjusted handicap) often carries slightly tighter juice than head-to-head because the balanced action makes it easier for books to manage risk. Totals markets tend to be among the widest in AFL, reflecting the inherent unpredictability of scoring in a game where a single quarter can produce 40 points or just 5.
The AFL season runs from mid-March through the Grand Final in late September, with 23 rounds of home-and-away fixtures followed by a four-week finals series. Odds competition tends to sharpen as the season progresses — by finals, public interest peaks and books compete more aggressively on pricing. Early-season rounds can feature softer lines as bookmakers adjust to roster changes, coaching shifts, and preseason form. Weather is a critical variable, particularly at exposed grounds like GMHBA Stadium in Geelong or Blundstone Arena in Hobart, where wind and rain can suppress scoring by 20 or more points. Interstate travel remains one of the most underrated factors in AFL betting — teams flying from Melbourne to Perth or Queensland historically underperform the spread, and home-ground advantage is more pronounced than casual bettors tend to assume.
Cross-Sport Vig Comparison
AFL averages 6.94% vig across 1 sportsbooks. Here's how that compares to other active sports:
| Sport | Avg Vig | vs AFL |
|---|---|---|
| AFL | 6.94% | — |
| NCAAF | 4.68% | 2.26% higher |
| MLB | 6.01% | 0.93% higher |
| MLB Preseason | 6.15% | 0.79% higher |
| NCAA Baseball | 6.97% | 0.03% lower |
Vig Rankings
| # | Sportsbook | Avg Vig | Grade | ML | Spreads | Totals | Events |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DraftKings | 6.94% | C | 6.81% | 7.08% | — | 7 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which sportsbook has the lowest AFL vig?
DraftKings currently has the lowest vig at 6.94%, earning a grade of C.
What is vig (vigorish) in sports betting?
Vig — short for vigorish, also called juice or overround — is the margin a sportsbook builds into its odds. It's the difference between the true probability of an outcome and what the odds imply. Lower vig means you keep more of your winnings on every bet. For example, a standard -110/-110 line has about 4.76% vig.
How often is this data updated?
We pull fresh odds from The Odds API three times per day — at 6:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 10:00 PM UTC. Each snapshot captures the latest lines from every sportsbook that has posted odds. The timestamp at the top of the page shows the most recent refresh.
How is the vig grade calculated?
Each sportsbook is graded on a letter scale based on average vig: A+ (under 2%) is exceptional, A (2–3%) is excellent, B+ (3–4%) is above average, B (4–5%) is the industry standard, C (5–6%) is below average, and D (above 6%) indicates high-juice markets.
Why does lower vig matter for bettors?
Lower vig directly impacts your long-term returns. A bettor placing $1,000 per week at a book with 4% vig loses roughly $40/week to the house edge. At 2% vig, that drops to $20/week — a $1,040 difference over a year. For serious bettors, shopping for lower vig is one of the most reliable ways to improve profitability.
What sportsbooks do you track?
We track both regulated US sportsbooks (DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Caesars) and offshore books (Bovada, BetOnline, MyBookie, BetUS, LowVig.ag, BetAnySports). Data comes from The Odds API, which aggregates real-time lines from licensed sources.
How We Calculate These Numbers
- Data Source
- All odds on this page come from The Odds API, which aggregates real-time lines from licensed US and offshore sportsbooks. We track moneyline, spread, and totals markets across every sport with active betting lines.
- Update Frequency
- We pull a fresh snapshot of every tracked market three times per day — at 6:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 10:00 PM UTC. Each snapshot captures the latest lines from every sportsbook that has posted odds for a given event. The timestamp at the top of each page tells you exactly when the data was last refreshed.
- Vig Calculation
- Vig (short for vigorish, also called juice or overround) measures the margin a sportsbook builds into its odds. We calculate it by converting the odds on each side of a market to implied probabilities, summing those probabilities, and subtracting 100%. For example, a market priced at -110/-110 implies 52.38% on each side — a total of 104.76%, meaning a vig of 4.76%. Lower vig means better value for bettors because you keep more of your winnings.
- Per-Market Breakdown
- We compute vig separately for each market type: moneyline (h2h), point spreads, and totals (over/under). The "average vig" shown for each sportsbook is the mean across all market types weighted by the number of events sampled in each market.
- Grading Scale
- Every sportsbook receives a letter grade based on its average vig: A+ (under 2%) is exceptional and rare — these are typically sharp-friendly books. A (2–3%) is excellent. B+ (3–4%) is above average. B (4–5%) is the industry standard for most recreational sportsbooks. C (5–6%) is below average. D (above 6%) indicates high-juice markets where bettors face a steep cost per wager.
- Trend Tracking
- We store daily snapshots for 30 days, allowing us to show 24-hour and 7-day vig trends. A downward trend (improving) means sportsbooks are tightening their lines — often in response to increased competition or higher betting volume as a season heats up.