The Norwegian Nobel Institute will investigate whether leaks preceded Friday's award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado because of suspicious betting.

The odds of Machado winning the prize jumped from 3.75 percent to nearly 73 percent overnight Thursday to Friday on the predictive betting platform Polymarket.

But no expert or media outlet had mentioned her being among the favourites for the prize, which was announced just a few hours later in Oslo.

"You don't normally see this in the betting market. It's very suspicious," Robert Naess, a data specialist, was quoted as saying by Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

"I don't think there have ever been any leaks in the entire history of the prize. I can't imagine that's the case," Norwegian Nobel Committee

See Full Page