Maybe they aren’t done any more. When I was in the military, various issues would come up as slated for the not distant future. And someone would start a voting pool. A piece of paper would be drawn up & one would put a $1.00 for a chosen date that you thought XYZ event would happen on or by that date. The person who won or was closest got all the $1’s. It was called a pool. I guess because the predictions were pooled together on the paper.
Yes, pools are done to this day. Your post is interesting. What pools have you participated in the past?