Dota 2
In case you forgot about him, Tommy "Taiga" Le used to be a part of OG and won a lot of big tournaments with the team. However, the player stepped down from the team this past August after spending more than 2 years with the club. Initially, we weren’t sure what led to this decision, but Taiga decided to step out and reveal more information. He felt he should provide an explanation, especially after he decided to compete for Wildcard Gaming in The International 12 qualifiers.
Gambling Addiction
In a tweet from Taiga, the Norwegian Dota 2 superstar revealed he’s had problems with his mental health and anxiety. Sadly, things became even worse when he started gambling. According to him, he started gambling after TI 11, which means a few months prior to the FIFA World Cup 2022. After wagering on soccer, he also continued betting on basketball and tennis and even started playing casino games.
The player continues his statement, saying every day was a nightmare because he was thinking of the money he spent gambling. Like other people who have problems with this type of addiction, Taiga was constantly thinking about the losses and how to get them back — and the dopamine which comes along with it.
What’s even worse, according to Taiga, he got involved with “the wrong type of people”. Instead of helping him overcome his addiction, they dragged him even further and took advantage of his mental illness and weaknesses.
The path to recovery
Following his gambling addiction, Taiga also started having problems with paying taxes on top of everything else. In fact, he even said he lost more than what he earned through his career, which, according to Liquipedia, is around $642K USD. This was when Taiga decided to come forward and confess everything to his family and friends.
Taiga decided to trust his family and friends and even started going to therapy. According to OG’s ex-player this helped, because he was able to build enough mental strength and allowed him to appreciate the people around him even more.
Taiga’s message
After sharing his incredible story, Taiga continued by saying he wanted to do this so he could help those fighting addictions. "You are not alone. I have learned that even if you are at your lowest, especially when you are dealing with an addiction, drugs, alcohol or gambling. Do not shut yourself in…" "If you need someone to speak to, please reach out to someone close to you, or you can also reach out to me on my DMs."
In the end, Taiga said he gained back his love and passion for esports and wants to continue competing against some of the best in the world. He also said he’ll commit to his new team and he’ll be playing in another region.
It will be very interesting to see his progress on this new path, so make sure to follow BLIX for the latest Dota 2 news.
