FORMER Socceroos star Zeljko Kalac has gone to the wall over a half-million-dollar gambling splurge on horse races and soccer matches.

The towering SBS TV commentator and former goalkeeper for Italian glamour club AC Milan, who was declared bankrupt in August, leaves a string of corporate bookmakers $530,000 in the lurch.
Jilted creditors include Centrebet, which once featured weekly betting tips from the 218cm Kalac on its website, but is now owed $113,000.
While it is believed Kalac keeps a six-figure salary as goalkeeping coach with Sydney FC - who play the Brisbane Roar this Friday at Suncorp Stadium - his bookies have been told they will almost certainly be repaid nothing.
"The bottom line is that barring a miracle, you are not likely to receive any monies at all from this debtor," a law firm wrote to one creditor.
"After three years he will be discharged from bankruptcy and all debts will have been wiped."
Kalac has not a cent to his name, according to documents filed with Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia.
His bank accounts are empty and he holds no property, company shares or vehicles.
An Audi Q5 on which he owed $60,000 was repossessed.
Kalac, a regular at Brisbane racetracks Doomben and Eagle Farm when his downward spiral began last year, sold off his own interests in horse flesh as his debtors closed in.
"If he'd come and said, 'I'm doing it tough, I'll give you $300 a week', we would've copped that because it's better than nothing," one creditor said.
Kalac owes Sporting Bet $100,000, Bet Star $22,000, Luxbet $30,000 and the Commonwealth Bank $50,000 for a personal loan.
He owned four horses with Socceroo mates Craig Moore, Scott Chipperfield and Tony Popovic, including the well-regarded Buffering, a canny $22,000 investment which earned $340,000 in prizemoney from its first five races.
A source said Kalac began his gambling binge by settling his betting accounts weekly while savouring the odd big win.
But as his losses mounted, Kalac began stringing bookies along with promises of windfalls, including from the sale of his $2 million Sydney mansion.
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Edit: always provide the link thanks mate, cheers

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/ex-socceroo-kalac-blows-fortune-on-gambling-splurge/story-e6frg6n6-1226514292593

Edited by Joffa: 11/11/2012 12:13:50 AM

Source ? link ?

Edit: cheers

Edited by lukerobinho: 11/11/2012 12:17:36 AM

So pathetic.

I understand it's some sort of mental problem but i just don't get people who can gamble away a fortune like that

:lol: Absolutely no surprise for anyone who knows Spider.

Worth every cent....

Edited by playmaker11: 11/11/2012 12:19:31 AM

u'd have to say breaking players jaws would be a product of the bankruptcy lol.Or maybe not.

Disappointing tho. But smart move by Kalac moving ownership of his assets around. Clever =d>

That takes a fair bit of work, from what I know. For him to declare his own bankruptcy and keep most of his stuff before the creditors get a sniff, he's either a very cunning gambling addict or he has some top notch legal advice in regards to his financial situation.

Mistakes were made.


Edited by bloodberg: 11/11/2012 12:37:27 AM

I gotta say, he looks like the stereotypical professional gambler.

He was probably betting on Sydney :lol:

Edited by murfy1: 11/11/2012 01:06:23 AM

now we know where he got the passion for threatening to break someones jaw.

Quite sad and wonder aloud if this in any way effects their form...

I guess you could say...



..He put the house on it.

Sad really . Gambling is a disease

+1, and our TV's and internet are saturated with gambling ad's.

Bet now! Bet bet bet! Bet your entire savings with pixels in the click of a single button! Don't forget to bet!

Gambling's a disease? What a crock!

Tell that to someone with a cancer or MS.

You can't catch gambling any more than some fat bastard can catch obesity.

It's a problem of will power and that's all.

Having said all that it's very sad.

As politically incorrect as this is...

I feel the same. Disease is not the right word for it, surely?

Pretty much sums it up.

Edit: No doubt people can be addicted to gambling, but that's an addiction, not a disease. It could be a symptom of a syndrome or condition, but hardly a disease.

Edited by Draupnir: 11/11/2012 06:16:54 AM

What is it with former Australian keepers going bankrupt :lol:

Watch out Schwarzer!

Yeah but Bozza and Kalac are both nut cases... Schwarzer seems to be a bit more level headed then those two loons...

=d>

Lots of immature comments from unqualified people.

The brain is an organ and the brain is prone to "illness" & "disease" just like any other organ: the stomach, the kidneys, the heart, the blood vessels.

Some people's brains will develop Alzheimer's, some Parkinson's, some people's brains will be affected to manifest itself in excessive behaviour - alcoholism, drug abuse, risk taking, gambling.

To say "people can opt not to gamble" shows a complete ignorance of human physiology, which is not surprising on a forum that seems to be filled with an inordinate amount of very ignorant people.

You know I've said this here before and was ridiculed, he's gambling problem has been out of control for years, according to a person I know who was once associated with the Socceroos there were suggestions in the camp after we played Croatia that he placed a bet on Croatia, letting in that howler didn't help matters, nearly broke the team up.

For a gambler, you'd think at some stage during his career he'd have backed himself to get a starting role somewhere.

Probably the most arrogant Aussie player I've seen - probably thought he knew more than the bookies, same as he thinks he knows more than any other football commentator.

A fool and his money ......

Sydney time to weed this grub out. lets start fresh. a new head coach and manager and let lovrek go also.

Bring back bruno, he would be good off the bench

No irony at all in your first and last sentences Joe? Surely you didn't have a straight face when you hit 'Post'? Surely?

It's not a physical disease. It's a mental disease.

Don't gamble, simple.

Shit hair.

My favorite saying - Casinos are built on losers

So by your theory, obese people shouldn't eat.

Rightio-ho.