(Mike Seyfang/Flickr)
ATLANTA - Oddsmakers have placed Atlanta at the top of the list for Amazon's second corporate home.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has given the Atlanta bid 2/1 odds, topping their list.
Amazon said about 238 cities and regions submitted proposals to host the second headquarters. The $5 billion second North American headquarters comes with the promise of around 50,000 jobs, many which will pay six-figure salaries.
Final proposals were due last week and many regions have gone to great lengths to impress the company. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has even written CEO Jeff Bezos directly to lobby for a Canadian location. Just outside of Atlanta, the city of Stonecrest went as far as to offer to change the name of part of the city to “Amazon.”
The company said it is looking for a location which is “business-friendly” and has a "strong local and regional talent," especially in software development. Georgia has 17 Fortune 500 companies, with many calling metro Atlanta home including Home Depot, UPS, Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, and Aflac. It’s largest tech firm arguably is NCR, which create solutions for supermarkets and other retail stores.
While Paddy Power has ranked Atlanta at the top, notably absent from the list are Denver and Chicago, both major markets believed to be frontrunners by other speculative business sites.
Here are the odds as released by Paddy Power:
- Atlanta 2/1
- Austin 3/1
- Boston 6/1
- Toronto 7/1
- Pittsburgh 14/1
- Dallas 16/1
- Washington 16/1
- San Jose 18/1
- Los Angeles 20/1
- Philadelphia 20/1
- Vancouver 66/1
- Ottawa 80/1
- Halifax 100/1
Amazon will make an announcement on their decision sometime in 2018.