About Nick Hilton

My name is Nick Hilton, I am the web site owner of Odds-On.NET.

I do not have any contacts in horse racing and have never worked in the racing industry. I have a degree in Analytical Chemistry, the content of this web site is undertaken in my spare time. The site brings together my hobby and business interests - science, horse racing and computer programming.

How it started - bookmaker porter

As a child, my bedroom overlooked Haydock Park racecourse. On race days I would earn pocket money helping bookmakers carry their money satchels and betting stands to the car park. During the walk, I would listen to the bookmakers talking about the profits they made. To a young person - it looked and sounded like the good life.

64Kb and an audio tape

In the Christmas of 1979, I received my first home computer, a Commodore 64. Back then computers were pretty basic, there was no wireless internet and the software was limited. The Commodore 64 ran files from an audio storage tape, had a memory size of 64Kb and a BASIC programming language. It was at this time I created my first horse racing software program [in the Basic programming language]. The program created handicap ratings from various race form inputs and ordered the horses in order of the handicap rating.

A day at the races

I had little computer knowledge, until in 1981, I won a horse racing competition in a national newspaper. The prize was a champagne day at the races and £100 of free bets. I could have picked any racecourse in the country, but I picked Haydock Park. I backed two winners and returned with £106 [i.e. a net £6 profit].

In the same year, the local college were enrolling for a newly created A Level computer course. I put the £106 towards the enrolment fees. The course was essentially theoretical with limited practical access [the college only had one computer]. The knowledge learned was valuable and helped in understanding computers and writing programs.

Gambling habits tended to focus on betting on the top rated horse in the race. There no inference of value betting.

A change in strategy

For years I used to read various racing papers such as the Sporting Chronicle, Sporting Life and in particular the Handicap Book [which was released each Thursday]. The Handicap Book contained regular articles including horse racing systems, betting strategies and gambling methods.

In the mid 1980s the Racing Post was launched. The paper contained the revolutionary Pricewise column. Pricewise was the first to go beyond the accepted practice of giving horse racing tips using race form alone. Instead it highlighted value betting opportunities on horses at specific bookmaker odds.

In 1990, the original Pricewise author, Mark Cotton published a book called Value Betting. This book focused on identifying value bets. Moreover, it described bookmaking methods, staking plans and how to compile odds for horse race markets.

Bringing it all together

During the 1990s I combined the value betting strategy into to create and compile my own betting forecasts. Initially the program was crude, forecasts inaccurate and horse racing results poor. But over time, as lessons were learned and program modifications made, results started to improve.

Access to the internet expanded at a fast pace in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2003, I purchased the web name www.odds-on.net and started to get to grips with web publishing.

Since 2003 the odds-on web site has seen a number of face lift. What you see today combines all my web design, computer programming and horse racing knowledge gained over 30 years. I hope you enjoy the content as much as i have enjoyed creating it.

You can email me at nick@odds-on.net

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