What is hold percentage
Hold Percentage measures the realised operator margin over a defined period. It equals GGR divided by handle, expressed as a percentage. A casino vertical with 100 units of handle and 4 units of GGR has a 4% hold. Hold is closely related to theoretical house edge but represents what actually happened, not what the math predicts.
On slots and other certified RNG games, hold converges to the certified house edge over large samples. On sportsbook, hold fluctuates with sporting results and trading performance, sometimes by several percentage points month-to-month.
Hold vs house edge
House Edge is the theoretical long-run margin built into the game model. Hold is the realised margin actually retained in a period. Over a large enough sample they converge; over a single month they can diverge meaningfully, especially in sportsbook. Operators report both: house edge as the structural input, hold as the realised output.
Why hold matters in B2B
Hold is one of the most-watched operator KPIs. Investor presentations and earnings releases consistently report hold percentage by product vertical alongside handle and GGR. Trading and risk teams monitor sportsbook hold daily; casino operations teams reconcile hold against certified house edge to detect mispriced games or unusual betting patterns. Persistent deviation between hold and house edge is one of the early warning signals for bonus abuse, syndicate play, or operational issues.
Frequently asked questions about What Is Hold Percentage?
Most online slot portfolios produce a hold percentage in the 2% to 8% range, tracking the certified house edge of the games in the lobby. Variation by game mix and market is significant.
Sportsbook outcomes depend on sporting events with unpredictable results. A single round of major fixtures going one way can produce sharp positive or negative hold for the operator. Casino hold is structurally smoother because RNG outcomes converge to certified probabilities.
Yes. Hold, margin, keep percentage, and (loosely) yield are used interchangeably in operator reporting. They all refer to the realised percentage of handle retained as GGR.