Day 0: How I Reopened My Account After a 6-Month Break

On October 20 I did not bet anything. No stake, no odds, no settled bet. Day zero of this journal is the day I decided to come back to Betfair, after a 6-month break during which the account stayed closed through self-exclusion.

The decision

I had set the self-exclusion myself, voluntarily. It was a limit I had put on myself, and I respected it for half a year. Now I decided to lift it, with a clear plan: live tennis, measured amounts and every stake noted publicly, in this journal, with no filters.

The chat with the operator

I opened Betfair and found the chat section with an operator. The procedure was serious, as it should be: a few verification questions, including the year of birth and the secret word set when the account was created, plus the ID document uploaded for verification. It is not a simple tick you give to get past a block.

At the end I received the sentence that would decide the calendar: “in 24 hours the account will be reactivated and can be used”.

The surprise

I did not expect a 24-hour wait, it was something new for me. But that is okay, no problem. One more day changes nothing, and a rule that makes you wait one more day before betting is not a bad thing.

What comes next

The account opens on October 21, and from there the real stakes begin: Day 1, with the first stake, the first odds and the first result. Everything that happens from there on is in the journal, day by day.

Play responsibly, 18+. Not betting advice.