Not that long ago ocean going passenger cruise ship liners were used primarily to ferry people across the oceans of the world. Back then cruise ships did not offer the endless variety of entertainment offered today.  So, these long journeys were filled with many boring hours of doing mostly nothing, sitting in a deck chair, drinking in the bar, maybe playing cards with fellow passengers.

But one of the highlights each day everyone looked forward to on these long cruises was the afternoon horse races. Not with actual horses running around the deck, but six wooden horses would be brought into the ship's main lounge. These horses would run on a short grid track and move based on the roll of a die. If the dice roll was 6, horse number 6 would move one grid square.  This would continue until one horse crossed the finish line and came in first. 

Passengers would bet on the winner number of the race,  and the betting odds and payoffs were based on the total amount bet by all the passengers in a true horse racing para-mutual system. The odds would then be posted just before the start of the race. Passengers holding winning tickets would be paid off before the start of the next race.