Game champion commits suicide over gambling debts
by Kyle Orland 
{ Jan 8th 2007 at 3:55PM }
Christian Sellergren, a professional gamer who led Team Eyeballers to the 2004 CPL Counter-Strike championship, apparently took his own life last November over massive debts accrued from online gambling. The news trickled down to us through a rough translation of a recent story about the death in Swedish paper Aftonbladet.
According to the report, the 21-year-old Sellergren, who went by "divino" online, turned his competitive instincts to online gambling after retiring from the eSports scene. Sellergren lost his job and accrued over $13,000 in debt to fuel his addiction, which he kept from parents and friends.
While stories about pro gamers with six figure salaries and major sponsorship deals may make you think the scene is all about glitz and glamor, this story shows that is not always the case. Our sympathies go out to all of Sellergren's friends and family. If you think someone you know may have a gambling problem, please don't wait until it's too late. Get help.
[Thanks Will]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
LuckyCharm2007 @ Jan 8th 2007 4:04PM
That could have been fixed man!!! DAMN IT!! , Im sure Jack Son of a Bitch Thompson will make this part of his Evil plan , or maybe he didnt commited suicide , maybe Jack Thompson killed him , he's starting to eliminated gamers from the top , beware , arm yourselfs Jack Thompson might kill you if youre a gamer.
L337 Lemming @ Jan 8th 2007 4:07PM
my deepest sympathies to his loved ones. its never easy losing someone. Lucky, show a bit of tact will you?
David004 @ Jan 8th 2007 4:24PM
I'm sorry but I'm with Lucky on this one. it's January, he killed himself in November, and most here don't have a clue who he is or care that he killed himself. They might have cared 2 months ago when he did it but move on.
crono141 @ Jan 8th 2007 8:36PM
I get the feeling that gambling debt carries a much higher interest rate than even credit card debt.
A 13,000 dollar balance could balloon into several hundred thousand after interest.
Also, being gambling debt, I doubt they had a nice payment plan set up for him. They probably demanded all or most all on the spot.
Tell me, if someone came up to you and demanded you produce 13,000 dollars in cash right now, could you do it? If so, how? Some of you might could sell your home and have 13k left after paying off your mortgage, but if he was young and just recently purchased a home, he'd probably end up with a loss, if he owned a home at all.
13k in gambling debt is nothing to sneeze at.
Show a little compassion.
mahmood @ Jan 8th 2007 4:30PM
believe it or not, competitive gamers in Sweden seem to gravitate to online poker moreso than in any other scene i've noticed. Quake legend Lakerman (Quake 1/Quake 3 duel champion) is a millionaire from online poker. one of his contemporaries, Z4muz, who still competes, also makes a ton of cash from it.
D @ Jan 8th 2007 4:30PM
Did he drop any good loot?
Joe @ Jan 8th 2007 4:31PM
If you die in the game, you die for real.
FrankTheCrank @ Jan 8th 2007 7:25PM
Poor Kid...
Probably had knowone to talk to and thought he couldn't get out of his situation.
David004 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:13PM
I need to say this...
I'm sorry he's dead, people dieing are normally sad things. People who cared about him would have known this months ago. People die, you move on, without death there is no point in living. Worrying about the tens of millions of people who die everyday you don't know is pointless, just like this "news".
Akiba Decker @ Jan 8th 2007 4:39PM
This is really regrettable. Yes, $13,000 is a lot to accrue but it's not impossible to get out of. He could have considered many other alternatives, even if it meant dropping out of the gaming/gambling scene.
Burl @ Jan 8th 2007 4:41PM
What a fool. Anyone who takes their own life gets no sympathy from me. One less idiot walking the earth who could handle everyday life.
randomshagz @ Jan 8th 2007 7:23PM
I think he died trying to freeze himself because he didnt want to wait for Wii. The Jokes on him...
smackenzie @ Jan 9th 2007 7:49AM
There is always more to the story. He might have been a generally unhappy or lonely person with somewhat of an addictive personality disorder -- which is why gaming and gambling were his passion without enough additional support. Too many people see the symptoms (violent games, gambling, etc.) as a cause (he committed suicide because he was $13,000 in debt) and not really a symptom (he was $13,000 in gamblinb debt and committed suicide because he was unhappy).
Many, many people have credit card debt greater than $13,000 without committing any violent behavior. The average household in the US has $8000 of credit card debt, for example.
Anyway, it's a shame. I'm thinking of his family and friends.
juicebytim @ Jan 8th 2007 5:01PM
Not to be rude or anything, but I'm sure he had alot more problems than just online gambling. ie. extreme depression.
Jose @ Jan 8th 2007 5:02PM
This has almost nothing to do with his status as a professional gamer, and everything to do with the rising debt of our average 20-somethings. Many young people get into debt and become despaired when they realize how far it's gotten before they stopped spending. This happens to students, and those of us in dead end jobs without means of increasing our pay. Our debts get larger, but our paychecks stay the same, which makes it harder and harder to even think of going back to college. What he does is just coincidence.
hiroak @ Jan 22nd 2007 5:36PM
What the, 13,000 are you kidding that’s nothing. People get Hundreds of Thousands of dollars in dept gambling 13,000 that’s like one hand
Steve @ Jan 9th 2007 9:06AM
I can gather sympathy for people who commit suicide because they have some terminal illness that offers a miserable death, but when it comes to someone who kills themself over a self inflicted problem I have absolutely no sympathy. In those cases it's the ultimate act of selfishness. Sounds like this guy's ego was so great that he'd rather die than experience the shame of informing his parents of his gambling debt.
This guy was clearly a loser in more ways than one. Society, including its genepool, is better off without him.
hiroak @ Jan 8th 2007 5:02PM
What the, 13,000 are you kidding that’s nothing. People get Hundreds of Thousands of dollars in dept gambling 13,000 that’s like one hand
Steve @ Jan 8th 2007 5:04PM
Oh, and another thing, not only is this guy a loser but he f***ing offends me. Here we are in a world where people have terminal diseases, deformaties, and serious handicaps and this guy just dumped a perfectly functional young body into a graveyard. What an ass.
Matt @ Jan 8th 2007 5:09PM
Look! An emo-looking kid killed himself! What a suprise. Good job, MySpace, good job.
RevJonathan @ Jan 8th 2007 9:51PM
Hey Joystiq,
It may be best to close the comments on this, the insensitive comments have already begun.
My prayers are with his family.
LaughingMan @ Jan 8th 2007 5:15PM
"While stories about pro gamers with six figure salaries and major sponsorship deals may make you think the scene is all about glitz and glamor, this story shows that is not always the case"
What? Have you seen pro gamers? They couldn't get laid in a womens prison with a fist full of pardons. Yes they get paied a lot of money, but so do people in eating competitions. So easy with the "Rounders" angle, Joystiq, these guys aren't exactly poppin Cris at the "Ridge Racer" after party.
LordMinogue @ Jan 8th 2007 7:37PM
Was this guy an Organ Donor, or did he greedily condem several others to the grave with him?
FSK405K @ Jan 8th 2007 8:27PM
Now he's playing with power! oops, wrong death.
Defenestrator2.0 @ Jan 8th 2007 7:33PM
I'm with L337 Lemming on this one. Show some respect, guys. Committing suicide does not make him "an idiot." A bit irrational when he could seek help, yes, but not an idiot. Burl, Matt, and Steve, you all are arrogant, self-centered, tactless, and cold-hearted. It's always easier to talk the talk, but not walk the walk, ain't it? If anyone deserves to not be able to enjoy life, it's you all. It's always one big joke to you. I don't need a fortune cookie to tell me that every one of you will die alone and miserable. Congratulations.
Jeff @ Jan 8th 2007 5:50PM
"Yes, $13,000 is a lot to accrue but it's not impossible to get out of. "
Well, the pathetic thing about this is that $13,000 is a joke. It's certainly nothing to kill yourself over.
Yes, yes, I know a lot of people are very poor and won't see $13,000 in a decade. But this guy was young, he was obviously well off enough to own a decent gaming rig, he had money to gamble to start with. He seemed like a basically middle class guy.
It's just an example of how tiny little problems can seem insurmountable when you're young; I mean people kill themselves over freakin' term papers when they're young. It's both sad but at the same time oddly irritating. You wish you could just grab these kids by the collar and shake some sense into them.
To put this in perspective, the *average* credit card debt in the New York metro area is $20,000. But most people also own homes, cars, and whatever else... so the total debt load is more like $500,000. (That's about what I owe.) You just pay it off a little at a time, no big whoop. Nothing to kill yourself over.
I feel bad for this kid's family.
LordMinogue @ Jan 8th 2007 5:55PM
Hopefully this kid was an Organ Donor, then hopefully a little good will come out of this otherwise selfish act.
GhostBox @ Jan 8th 2007 6:22PM
What everyone says about online gambling is true.
It's like video crack.
Matthew @ Jan 8th 2007 6:02PM
13,000 dollars!? I'm sorry the kid killed himself... but GEEZ 13,000? This would make a hell of a lot more sense if you added another zero to that. Maybe Sweden is secretly living in the 50's and inflation has not yet taken effect over there.
13,000... how could one kill themselves over that!?
Very tragic
Matthew @ Jan 8th 2007 6:06PM
Maybe the Swedish are like the Japanese back in the day. He dishonored his family and took his life so his family would not face the shame. Craziness.
Maybe his computer glitched and it LOOKED like there was another zero at the end... still not worth killing yourself though.
Frank N Stein @ Jan 8th 2007 6:24PM
There is nothing in life worth killing yourself over....this guy had other issues....psychiatric ones no doubt.
pandafresh @ Jan 8th 2007 9:53PM
man, i can't believe some of the assholes on here, the kid killed himself, he was obviously depressed, why the hell would you call him a loser?
g3RC4n @ Jan 8th 2007 8:35PM
your all dicks, someone commits suicide and all you can do is post insensitive comments?, suicide is never justified, so why are you saying thing like "he coould of got out of debpt"?
imokurok @ Jan 9th 2007 1:01PM
Being alive's mostly a waste of time anyway. Somebody wants to kill themselves more power to em whether they have a reason or not.
tracked @ Jan 8th 2007 7:27PM
I guess he pwnd him self
Revo @ Jan 8th 2007 8:07PM
Um, it was about $28,000, not $13,000. The source article is wrong:
"Christian had over 200 000 Swedish Kroner (About 18 144 Euro or 13 867 American Dollars) in loans from the bank, with these loans he also bought a car, though he didn't have a drivers license."
200,000 Swedish crowns translates to $28,673 according to currency converters. The exchange rate is roughly seven crowns to the dollar.
Nevertheless, this definitely isn't something to kill yourself over. Very sad indeed.
Jeremy @ Jan 8th 2007 9:45PM
Show some respect... seriously. I mean, I love how sensitive you guys are towards death. It's so funny, right?!
randomshagz @ Jan 8th 2007 10:54PM
13k in gambling debt is nothing to sneeze at.
yeah, but he was 21 and did it online... then killed himself.
It wasnt like he got shocked from bad wiring.
Great_Daemon @ Jan 8th 2007 9:14PM
First of all, I wish to offer my condolences and sympathy to his family concerning this tragic death. Suicide is especially tragic and often difficult to come to terms with.
I must say that I'm a bit put off by the sort of comments people seem to be posting here - Burl, Joe, Stve, Matt etc.. Desfenestrator got it right when he said that it's just all one big joke to you people. We're discussing someone's death through suicide and all you can do is call him an idiot and say he didn't deserve to walk this earth.
None of you have any idea what his actual position was in this matter - maybe he recently lost family members, or friends, or had unofficial debts, or was clinically depressed, or had recently broken up with a girlfriend or god knows what - but the moment you hear that he killed himself you immediately leap in with your smug, self-righteous comments, apparently assured of your complete and total superiority to this man. Frankly, it's disgusting. Just because you have led a untainted life bereft of sin *coughcough* doesn't give you the right to lord your perfection over his mistakes. We all have our character flaws and we all make mistakes and therefore nobody is perfect, as you helpfully pointed out through the nature of your posts. This sort of thing could happen to anybody given the right pressures/stresses, and if you think you're immune you are deluding yourselves.
Besides, even though you are quite obviously arrogant and uncaring you could at least be politic enough to keep your thoughts to yourselves. And try to be a bit more mature.
"Did he drop any good loot?"
I mean seriously guys, this is not world of warcraft. You cannot ressurect at a graveyard. Christian was a real person, a human being with conscious thoughts and emotions just like the rest of us. And when that gift of life is taken from somebody so young in any way, it is not something to joke about. So don't think yourselves so high and mighty please, or at least if you do, shut up about it.
HappyJack @ Jan 9th 2007 9:39AM
I've noticed that a lot of you are trying to mask your fear response to suicide behind judgement and anger. What's the point? Why not just come out and say, "Suicide really scares me"?
It's nonsensical to make comments about 'wasting a perfectly good body'. Bodies are not commodities; they cannot be exchanged.
The gentleman clearly felt very alone. This is a tragedy and should be considered as such. Standing in judgement of the recently deceased shows a marked lack of emotional development, not to mention class.
Baltimore Dank @ Jan 9th 2007 9:03AM
go hard or go home...no sympathy for suicides, especially from people who have no mental illness...this guy quit.. 13k in debt sucks, but the game is far from over...only thing that sucks about this is his family having to deal with this....
Be a hero...
Blackrose @ Jan 11th 2007 11:37AM
15 Jeff:
First of all I want to say that you are the only reason I read the comments here on Jostiq beacuse sadly you seem to be the only one being able to take some self distance and furthermore your posts are always spot on.
I come from Sweden so I know how our country works.
I fully agree with you that (correction) 28 000 dollars isnt a reason to commit suicide. Though in Sweden we cannot understand why americans always put things on credit and have such an enormous dept.
Sweden isnt like U.S.A. We dont have the kind of poverty you do. And if you lose your job and wife (etc etc) you always have our social security net to land on. Think Sweden as middle class U.S.A,. We dont have the poverty and we dont have the same amount of rich people. So even with a dept like that you can always manage really good in Sweden. (healthcare,all kinds of schools and dental is free (dental is free up untill your 20th birthday)
That is why the reason he commited suicide isnt beacuse of the money. Clearly he had other reasons.
DC @ Jan 9th 2007 12:21PM
Well, first of all, it's a terrible shame that this person went that far. But my comment is about Joystiq's take on it:
"While stories about pro gamers with six figure salaries and major sponsorship deals may make you think the scene is all about glitz and glamor, this story shows that is not always the case. "
How in the world do you twist the world around enough to make this connection? How does his having a gambling problem relate even remotely to his having been a pro gamer? There are many, many people with gambling problems in the world, from all walks of life. If the guy had been a plumber would you have said "think the plumbing scene is all about pipes and plungers? Not always the case!"
Stupid and disrepectful. Grow up, Joystiq, and stop trying to make every corner of the world about gaming.