“The Long History of Political Betting Markets: An International Perspective”, 2013-11-01 (; backlinks):
The conventional wisdom is that political futures markets are a recent invention. However, such markets have a long history in many Western countries.
This chapter traces the operation of political futures markets back to 16th-century Italy, 18th-century Britain & Ireland 19th-century Canada, and twentieth-century Australia and Singapore. In the United States election betting was a common part of political campaigns in the pre-1860 period but over the post-1860 period became increasingly concentrated in the organized futures markets in New York City.