Glossary
Handle
The handle is the total amount of money wagered on an event, a market, or across a sportsbook over a period. It is a measure of betting volume, not profit. The sportsbook keeps only a fraction of the handle, called the hold, which comes from the vig built into the odds.
Handle is a volume word. When a report says a sportsbook took a record handle during a big weekend, it means a record amount of money was wagered, not that the book earned that amount.
What the book actually keeps is the hold, a small percentage of the handle that comes from the vig priced into every bet. A book might take a very large handle and hold only a few percent of it. The two numbers describe different things: handle is how much flowed through, hold is how much stayed.
For a bettor, handle matters mostly as context. Heavily bet markets tend to have sharper, more efficient prices because so much money has weighed in. Lightly bet markets can be softer. Knowing the difference between handle and hold also helps you read industry news without mistaking volume for profit.
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