vigorish
/ˈvɪɡ(ə)rɪʃ
/noun US informal
1 [in singular] An excessive rate of interest on a loan, typically one from an illegal moneylender.If your house is certain to burn down (never mind why…), you either have to keep that fact from the insurance company or be prepared to pay the insurance company just as much as it will ultimately pay you, plus the vigorish - which is pointless....
- It's that kind of power, the power of the gangster who doesn't produce anything, but he collects from the entire neighborhood, because he breaks windows, and ruins the laundry, and collect his vigorish.
2 [mass noun] The percentage deducted from a gambler’s winnings by the organizers of a game: payment of vigorish to be made at a later time...
- Canbet also offers perpetually reduced vigorish on straight bets and parlays.
- One advantage often overlooked is that baseball parlays pay true odds, whereas the fixed parlay pay-offs in football and baskets includes increasingly higher vigorish as the numbers of teams increase.
- These outlandish margins on futures compare to the more normal vigorish of 10% on standard bets (such as which team is going to win a particular game).
Origin
Early 20th century: probably from Yiddish, from Russian vyigrysh 'gain, winnings'.