What -110 costs in 2026: vig vs market fees

What does -110 mean in dollars?

A -110 line means the bettor risks $110 to win $100. The price is not written as a fee, but it acts like one because the market asks both sides to pay more than even money. In a two-way -110/-110 market, each side implies 52.38%. Together, the two sides add to 104.76%, which is a 4.76% overround.

That is the sportsbook refugee problem. The cost is baked into the line before the ticket is written. Nothing on the slip says “fee,” but the breakeven win rate is already above 50%. The core arithmetic is the same whether the stake is small or large: -110 is a price, not a percentage discount. For the odds conversion, see cents, odds, and implied probability.

How is Kalshi different from a -110 sportsbook?

Kalshi does not hide the charge inside a -110 line. It charges takers with a visible formula: 0.07 x P x (1 - P) per contract per side, with P as the contract price in dollars. The shape matters. The fee is highest around 50c and falls toward the extremes.

At 50c, the raw fee math is 0.07 x 0.5 x (1 - 0.5) = 0.0175 dollars, or 1.75c per contract per side, before the ceiling rule. A taker who enters and later exits as a taker can pay on both fills. A bettor who holds to resolution has no exit fill to pay. That difference is why “exchange fees” are not one number.

The sportsbook comparison is therefore not “-110 versus free.” It is -110’s 52.38% breakeven against the exchange price, the spread, and the taker fee. The cleaner comparison starts with the posted contract price, then adds the taker cost shown in the Kalshi vs Polymarket fee table.

How is Polymarket different from Kalshi?

Polymarket also charges takers, but it does not use one flat rate across every category. The published formula is C x rate x P x (1 - P), with the rate set by market category. Maker fees are 0.0.

That category schedule can make the same 50c price cost different amounts. At 50c, crypto at 0.07 matches Kalshi’s raw 1.75c shape before Kalshi’s ceiling rule. Sports at 0.05 is 1.25c. Politics at 0.04 is 1.00c. Geopolitics at 0.0 has no category taker fee under the published schedule.

This is where line shopping becomes real. A bettor comparing a sportsbook line to a prediction market cannot stop at the headline price. The better venue depends on the contract price, category, spread, and whether the order takes liquidity. TapeXray’s market pages are built to keep those inputs separate.

When is the sportsbook still cheaper?

Most days there is nothing magical here. An exchange is not automatically cheaper than a sportsbook. It is cheaper only when the exchange price, after spread and fee, beats the book’s price. A sportsbook number at -110 has a known hurdle: 52.38%. A prediction-market quote has a visible price and a visible fee, but the trader still has to get filled.

The sportsbook can still be the cheaper route when the exchange book is wide, when the only available fill is a bad taker price, or when the bettor would have to pay entry and exit fees. The exchange can be cheaper when competing offers let the bettor buy below the sportsbook’s implied price, or when a maker order gets filled with 0.0 maker fee. Limits are a separate issue; see why sportsbooks limit winners.

• Near 50c, Kalshi’s raw fee shape peaks at 1.75c per contract per side.
• At the extremes, P x (1 - P) falls, so the exchange fee falls with it.
• On Polymarket, a 0.04 politics rate is cheaper than a 0.07 crypto rate at the same price.
• A -110 sportsbook ticket has the same 52.38% breakeven whether the bet is $110 or $1,100.

How should a bettor compare the two?

Start with breakeven, not with the brand. A -110 sportsbook line needs 52.38% winners. A prediction-market contract needs the event probability to beat the all-in price: contract price, spread, and taker fee if the order takes liquidity. Those are different cost structures.

The clean workflow is mechanical. Convert the sportsbook line to implied probability. Convert the prediction-market price to cents. Add the fee that actually applies to the venue and category. Then compare the all-in number to the price that can actually be filled. The live cross-venue board is useful only when the matched markets are truly comparable; otherwise, line shopping becomes false precision.

1. Convert -110 to 52.38% implied probability.
2. Check the exchange price in cents, not just the market title.
3. Add Kalshi’s 0.07 x P x (1 - P) taker fee or Polymarket’s category rate.
4. Separate maker orders with 0.0 maker fee from taker orders that pay the posted fee.
5. Ignore pairs that do not match the same event and resolution rules.

Questions people ask

Related reading

• Kalshi vs Polymarket fees in 2026: who's cheaper?Kalshi has one taker-fee curve; Polymarket sets category rates. See the 10c-to-90c fee table and when each venue is cheaper after vig in 2026.