A bookmaker’s raw prices always include a margin. Take a perfectly balanced market: 1.91 / 1.91. Raw, that implies 52.4% / 52.4% — a total of 104.8%, which is impossible.
We remove the margin mathematically and publish what remains: the market’s honest estimate. 1.91 / 1.91 becomes 50.0% / 50.0%, margin 4.8%.
That number — not the price — is the reference. Compare your own estimate against it, or check what other bookmakers are charging you for the same event.
The method is named, not implied. We use equal-margin de-vigging: every raw probability is divided by the total. The balanced example above is the one case where every method agrees — on a lopsided market, the alternatives return different answers from identical prices. A product whose whole claim is “the real percentage” cannot leave that unsaid.
Raw implied52.4%52.4%104.8%
− vig 4.8%
Real probability50.0%50.0%100.0%
One sentence of honesty: matching the market’s accuracy is not enough to profit — a bettor who beat the closing price in every single game of a season still wins only slightly over 51%, below the 52.4% break-even.