Week 1 of the college football season included one of college football’s best rivalries: Florida vs. Miami.
The Gators hosted the Hurricanes, but it was all Miami in this one. Miami won 41-17, with quarterback Cam Ward performing well in his Hurricane debut. The Washington State transfer threw for 385 yards and three touchdowns.
Last weekend’s game was the first time Florida residents could wager on the rivalry since the state re-launched online sports betting in late 2023.
Information from Hard Rock Bet, the lone online operator in the Florida sports betting industry, displayed how regional location influenced how Florida bettors wagered.
Most bets in South Florida favored Miami
South Florida residents favored Miami in the season-opener. That’s not surprising, considering that Miami is in the southern part of Florida. Still, the numbers are interesting.
More than 77% of bettors in Miami-Dade County put their money on the Hurricanes to come out on top, with just 22.8% of gamblers in the area favoring the Gators.
It was a similar story in Broward County, as 72.5% of bettors picked Miami to beat Florida.
The percentage goes down as you head north. Just under 60% of bettors favored the Hurricanes in Palm Beach County, while 54% picked them in Martin County.
While the betting map provided by Hard Rock Bet shows the bulk of the counties that bet on Miami were located in the southern portion of the state, there were a few outliers.
For example, Calhoun County, which is in the northwest of the state, favored Miami (71%) over the Gators.
It was also interesting that Gilchrist County, which is directly west of Alachua County, was a 50-50 split.
Alachua County bettors favored Gators, as did most Florida counties
An astounding 86% of bettors in Alachua County – where Gainesville resides – wagered on Florida to win. Bettors were strongly behind the home team.
In fact, betting in most Florida counties favored the Gators to beat the Hurricanes.
In the northern county of Lafayette, an astounding 99% of bets were made on Florida. The Gators were also favored by nearly 86% of Gulf County bettors, 80% of bettors in both Dixie and Union counties, 79% of bettors in Nassau and Suwannee counties, and 75% of bettors in Holmes County.
Which counties had the most winners?
Unfortunately, Hard Rock Bet did not report how much money was wagered in each Florida county on the game. But based on each area’s percentage of bettors picking one team or another, it can be determined which counties had the most winners last weekend.
Bettors in 19 of Florida’s 67 counties picked the Hurricanes over the Gators:
- Miami-Dade: 77.2%
- Broward: 72.5%
- Calhoun: 71.4%
- Franklin: 66.7%
- Saint Lucie: 61.6%
- Palm Beach: 59.7%
- Osceola: 59.2%
- Desoto: 58.3%
- Collier: 56.2%
- Flagler: 55.6%
- Washington: 55.6%
- Hernando: 54.1%
- Martin: 54.1%
- Lee: 53.2%
- Monroe: 51.9%
- Leon: 51.5%
- Highlands: 51.4%
- Manatee: 51.1%
- Indian River: 50.7%
Conversely, bettors in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Lafayette, Putnam, Suwannee, Union and Wakulla counties had a bad weekend, as at least 70% of bettors in those counties picked the Gators to win.
Betting on Hurricanes should rise in Florida
Florida and Miami likely will not play against each other again this season. They could meet in a College Football Playoff game, but based on how the Gators played last Saturday, their chances of making the playoffs seem slim.
On the other hand, there’s a good chance that bettors across the state (and across the US) took note of Miami’s dominant performance. It’s a long season, but after Week 1, the Hurricanes look like one of college football’s better teams. It also helps that Miami resides in the ACC, compared to the gauntlet of the SEC, which Florida plays in.
In most Florida counties, betting might favor the Hurricanes after so many residents got burned last weekend.
