\u201cAmazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs,\u201d Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said when he announced that the company would take bids for the new headquarters.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Paddy Power has chosen Atlanta as the favorite despite the fact that Georgia state officials have been quiet about the details of the bid they submitted to Amazon. However, officials did say that it was the most attractive bid the state has ever made in an effort to attract a corporation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m highly confident that this is the most aggressive economic attraction package that the state of Georgia has ever put forward,\u201d Atlanta Major Kasim Reed told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/em>. \u201cFrom the city side, we have never put what we\u2019ve put on the table, today, in front of any other company in the history of the city.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnalysts Think Austin Could Be Best Fit<\/strong><\/h2>\nPaddy Power may currently have Austin ranked as a close second choice in their betting odds, but others see them as the favorite. Moody\u2019s Analytics looked at 65 major cities and found that given Amazon\u2019s requirements, the Texas city was the best fit for the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustin has a much lower cost of living than places such as Silicon Valley,\u201d wrote Moody\u2019s analysts. \u201cAnecdotally, the quality of life is high, and many want to live in the \u2018Silicon Hills.\u2019 Further, being in Texas, Austin resides in a business-friendly state that seeks to attract and keep companies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moody\u2019s did rank Atlanta and Philadelphia second and third in their analysis, closely mirroring the Paddy Power odds. Perhaps surprisingly, Rochester, NY ranked fourth in the Moody\u2019s report, which may explain why the comparatively small metro area is among Paddy Power\u2019s favorites at 10-1.<\/p>\n
Not all bettors want to put their money down on the favorites though, and the bookmaker has also listed some rather unlikely contenders among their betting options. Irish bettors who want a local option can support Dublin at 50-1, while the Canadian cities of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Melbourne, Quebec are the longest shots on the board at 100-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With more than 200 proposed locations for Amazon\u2019s second headquarters, there\u2019s plenty of uncertainty over what city the company will choose. But according to Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, a clear favorite has emerged in the race, and they think the world\u2019s largest Internet retailer has Georgia on its mind. Paddy Power has made Atlanta a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":61513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,61,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Paddy Power Pegs Atlanta as Favorite for Amazon HQ2 Location<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n