The house edge is nothing but a internal mechanism for the sports bettors, lottery administrators and casinos to make a fixed amount of money on each and every bet that is made.
The logic to it is the higher the percentage of the house edge, the lower is the winning sum for the player who placed the bet. While, the lower the percentage for the house edge, the higher shall be the winning sum for the bettor.
House Edge = {(Fair Winnings from Game – Actual Winnings from Game)/ Fair Winnings from Game} * 100.
Similarly, when we consider sports betting, there is a simple representation that the bookmakers consider.
Let us take the example of a simple fight between two boxers. They both are equally poised to win the game, in such a situation, if two friends bet 10 US Dollars on each boxer, the person who bet on the winning boxer will get 20 US Dollars.
However, if the same bet was placed by the two friends via a sports bookmaker they would get 19.1 US Dollars instead of the usual 20 US Dollars.
In such a scenario the house edge for a sports bet would be calculated as follows:
House Edge = (10-9.1)/10*100=0.09*100=9%
Conclusion
Thus, the above calculation represents how the bookmakers earn from players. In such a manner, the Online Sportsbooks earn as well.
The House Edge may be lowered by some in order to attract more bets, but usually the 9% House Edge on Sports Bet is prevalent in the United States of America.