Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) interest on a loan, or debt.

1912		A.H. Lewis Apaches of N.Y. 51: Stuss licks up [...] a round full fifth of all the East side earns, and to viggresh should be given the black glory thereof.
1935		News (Frederick, MD) 15 Feb. 4/7: When negotiating a loan from a Broadway usurerone asks how much ‘vigorish,’ or interest, will be charged.
1943		N.Y. Times Mag. 31 Oct. 2/4: I have heard the word ‘viggerish’ used for the cut the house takes in dice games [OED].
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 233/2: Vigerage. The loan shark’s twenty per cent weekly interest rate. [...] Vigerage-and. (Loan-shark racket) Principal and a week’s interest on a loan, plus the interest compounded on the entire debt.
1959		R. Condon Manchurian Candidate 201: Eugénie Rose Cheyney [...] loved Marco. That fact gave Marco a large edge, tantamount to wiping out the house percentage in banker’s craps. No matter what the action, that is a lot of vigorish to have going for anybody.
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 65: I figure the vig goes me four and five hundred.
1979		G. Wolff Duke of Deception (1990) 252: My father conned the bondsman out of ten thousand, plus ten percent, the bondsman’s vigorish.
1989		Pileggi & Scorsese Goodfellas [film script] 38: He wants three points over the vig.
1996		S. Frank Get Shorty [film script] Well, basically, this guy owes a shylock fifteen thousand, plus he’s a few weeks behind on the vig, the interest you have to pay.
2005		‘Gut Feeling’ at coldbloodedgames.typepad.com 8 May 🌐 I owed a big stack of paper to a whale sized Mob bookmaker called ‘Tony Chops’, and the weekly vig was killing me.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 141: In addition to the vig he owed Jimmy, Louis needed to front two bookies.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] You snivelled and begged and hopefully eventually borrowed. The vig was a fucking nightmare.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘He came up light on his vig. [...] Two weeks in a row’.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 39: [S]he’s paid off a fifth of what he owed, and Big Time Tommy’s not charging her the vig.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 95: He’d asked for $15,000. At 2 points a week, it would cost him $300 in vigorish alone.

2. (US gambling) a percentage of a loser’s financial losses that is returned to them when the leave the casino.

1913

Indianapolis News 26 Aug. 6/5: The loser at ‘stuss’ is never allowed to leave the temple of chance dead broke. At the door there is always returnded to him a percentage of his losses [...] This bonus, given to victims of the fickle goddess [...] is called ‘viggrish’.

3. (US gambling) the fee charged by a bookmaker for placing a bet.

1959		(con. 1900-29) L. Katcher Big Bankroll 183: In their early days the bucket shops were straight gambling houses. Their commission was their ‘vigorish’.
1969		L. Schecter Jocks 260: All it costs is the vigorish, the ten-percent fee the bookmaker charges to make the wager—one must bet 11,000 dollars to 10,000 dollars no matter on which side one wagers.
1974		G. Radano Stories Cops Only Tell Each Other 149: ‘Place your bets,’ said the dealer. ‘I take it, I lay it. All it costs is a little vig’.

4. in fig. use, something extra, an advantage.

c.1965

H. Ellison ‘Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes’ in Love Ain’t Nothing but Sex Misspelled 14: He was still with it. What the high-rollers called the edge, the vigerish, the fine hole-card.

5. attrib. use of sense 1.

1972		D. Pendleton Boston Blitz (1974) 133: A loan company specializing in ‘vigorish’ loans to students.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 96: ‘Gus had the idea that we should loan out some of my money to those unfortunate citizens got themselves burdened with bad credit ratings.’ ‘You got in the vig business. What did I tell you about that?’.

6. profit.

2001

K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 60: Four-wheel drive types who tell you to open greeting card shops because it’s a guaranteed three hundred per cent vig on greeting cards.

7. (US) money wagered on a competition.

2019

C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] A horde of men stood round a pit betting on fighting dogs. The men bared their teeth too, as if to bite should the vig begin to drop.