Reformed gambling addict and former AFL player David Schwarz marks 10 years since last bet

TEN years after David Schwarz last had a bet - a $2500 wager placed on the day of his son’s christening - he’s still fighting back the urge to get back on the punt.

Former Melbourne star David Schwarz with his wife Karen and his kids Cooper and Indiana at his home in Barwon Heads, Melbourne. 6th March 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch.

DAVID Schwarz’s young son turned to him with his tip on who was going to win a footy match.

The then eight-year-old said, “Dad, I think Richmond will beat the Dees tonight’’, Schwarz explains.

“I said to him, ‘Why’s that mate?”

And when young Cooper blurted back, “because they’re $1.23”, Schwarz knew something was amiss.

“I think sometimes the betting is bigger than the game when we look at a football match,’’ the 43-year-old told the Sunday Herald Sun this week.

“When kids normalise it (gambling), that’s when I get worried and I think that’s been happening for far too long.

“There’s the advertising and the constant putting it down our throats, I don’t like that.

“I’m not one who is adverse to gambling, for most of the population it works and they can be responsible with it, but for some of us, and I’m one of them, it didn’t work for me - it was all or nothing.”

The 10th anniversary since Schwarz made his last bet — and lost — is looming.

While it’s an incredible milestone for someone who punted everything and more, Schwarz concedes the itch to gamble will never go away.

After wiping out every last speckle from his mountains of money earned during his illustrious 12-season AFL career, the ex-Demon walked away from the sport he loved with a gaping hole in his pocket.

He saw more than $5 million go down the drain and left the sport he loved owing a seven-digit sum.

BUT while plenty of time has passed since the Schwarz’s life hit rock bottom, he openly concedes gambling will forever haunt him.

“May 3, 2005, was the day I had my last bet,’’ he said. “But I’ll be an addict all my life. I know if I gamble again I’ll lose everything.

“It’s not good but I have all these things in place to ensure I don’t fall back down.’’

That last bet was made in the garage during Cooper’s christening — a bet $2500 each way on a horse.

During the peak of his career, Schwarz’s addiction to horses and gambling saw him go from one extreme to another — it was either boom or bust.

In one afternoon he managed to notch up a lazy $500,000 on the punt.

But they were the good times. There was days where he’d scrounge around under car mats on a desperate hunt for coins or borrow money off his mum just so he could buy lunch.

In his tell-all book, All Bets Are Off, released in 2011, he described the feeling of having a massive windfall as like “walking on air, adrenaline pumping through my veins”.

But that feeling that has long gone has left him forced to adopt what he describes as “roadblocks” - little checkpoints sprinkled everywhere throughout his day-to-day life, acting as safety barriers to the punt.

When Flemington is abuzz with hundreds of thousands of racegoers every November, Schwarz checks himself out of the racing festivities to make sure he quashes any little inkling he may have to gamble.

“I go away during Spring Racing Carnival every year now, I go camping,” he said.

“But spring racing for me used to be my beautiful time when I was punting. It was the two weeks I loved.”

Any hardcore punters know the dream getaway is a trip to the world’s gambling epicentre Las Vegas, and that was exactly where Schwarz went just last year.

What would have once been number one of his list of getaway destinations turned out to be a holiday from hell.

“I went to Vegas in June last year and it was the worst four days,’’ he said.

“Those smells and sounds (of gambling), it wasn’t good.’’

His wife, Karen, has been an amazing support to the former Melbourne co-captain, sticking by him through thick and thin.

Schwarz has handed over the financial reins to her, stamping out any small chance of Schwarz crumbling and leaving his family including two children, Indiana, 8, and Cooper, 10, back in financial dire straits.

“I don’t have a credit card because I don’t like the credit factor, I have an EFTPOS account that I put money in each week,’’ he said.

“I make sure my wife handles all our finances, I don’t have access to any of our accounts.

“We have a policy in the family, no borrowing, no lending, whether that be to people or from people.’’

But while the itch to gamble still niggles at him, he’s got his friends on high alert and if any of him catch him punting they know to call his wife.

“All my mates know if they see me in a gaming venue or anywhere to do with the punt, our (Karen and mine) relationship is over,’’ Schwarz said.

“That’s how it works and we do that and it works well.

“If I fall over one roadblock, I won’t fall over another one.”

AT THE peak of Schwarz’s career he was racking in up to $450,000 a year but left the sport penniless and in mountains of debt in 2002.

But while time doesn’t heal all wounds, Schwarz, once a financial black hole, has managed to turn his life around.

Just last week he opened up his new business, trampoline centre SupaTramp in Geelong, juggling his new venture with this afternoon drive show on sports radio channel SEN.

Residing in Barwon Heads, his busy schedule keeps him on his toes, but those crystal clear memories of what it’s like to be financially destitute don’t go away.

“It’s taken me however long to get to this stage where I can now go back into business,’’ Schwarz said.

“I lost everything and more, I walked away from footy owing a seven-figure sum.

“But I’ll tell you what I do now know, I know what it’s like to have no money, to be desperate to feed your family.

“I know what it’s like to feel that anguish when you haven’t got the ability to be able to provide, it’s probably the worst feeling in the world.

“It makes you very, very appreciative of what you have, it makes all the hard work seem worthwhile once you start to see the results again.”

As seven-digit salaries become more common in many sporting codes, Schwarz said maximising those critical years when players are earning the big bucks was essential.

“Preparing for the day you walk away from footy and walk into a normal job is a big step,’’ he said.

“It’s a big adjustment when you go earning $40,000 a month for a lot of players to earning $6000 or $7000 a month; it’s a huge adjustment.

“There’s not too many 23-year-olds who are earning half a million dollars keeping fit, having most things paid for them, having doors opened for them at will, having a really unbelievable opportunity to set themselves up for life.

“It wasn’t until I left footy that I realised how hard it was in the real world and what opportunities that I wasted because that sort of money is very hard to replicate.”

While Schwarz has managed to fully recover from his addiction to the punt and pay off all his debts, he said there was one key thing footballer should remember.

“If you get it right, football will open up doors forever,’’ he said.

“The money won’t always be there so if you put it away and let it grow you can leave football being very, very wealthy.”

For help with problem gambling, phone [phone] or go to gamblinghelponline.org.au.

Basketballer Andrew Bogut in action for Golden State Warriors. Picture: Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

AUSTRALIA’S TOP SPORTS EARNERS in 2014

1. Andrew Bogut (basketball): $16.2 million

2. Adam Scott (golf): $15.5 million

3. Jason Day (golf): $10.65 million

4. Marcos Ambrose (motor racing): $5.68 million

5. Tim Cahill (soccer): $5.5 million

6. Grant Balfour (baseball): $5.18 million

7. Patty Mills (basketball): $4.61 million

8. Shane Watson (cricket): $4.5 million

9. Dante Exum (basketball): $4.34 million

10. Mitchell Johnson (cricket): $4.1 million

Source: BRW, includes on-field and endorsement earnings for 2014.