A COUNCIL officer hanged himself after running up debts of more than £53,000 playing the tables at an internet casino.

Mario Opalka, 44, took on new credit cards to fund his addiction, always believing that the next throw of the dice would be in his favour.

Today his 20-year-old son Jonathon, who also lost his mother to cancer 18 months ago, spoke of his devastation and said: "I've cried all the tears I can."

Deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton described internet casinos as wicked and said they had taken advantage of a man left vulnerable by traumatic events in his life. She recorded a verdict of suicide.

Jonathon found his dad hanging at the top of the stairs at their Delph Approach home, Blackburn, when he returned from work in January.

A note left by him read: "I love you all, especially you Jonathon, but I couldn't go on feeling this bad, please forgive me."

Jonathon said that his father played the casino site day and night and had even taken time off from his work as a planning officer at Blackburn with Darwen Council as he sought solace in drink and gambling following the death of his wife Eileen.

She died in September 2000 after a nine-year fight against lymph cancer.

Jonathon, an apprentice at British Aerospace, in Samlesbury, said his dad had cared for her throughout that time and he said the last two years had been particularly difficult.

Mr Opalka, who had been diagnosed as a manic depressive when he was 30, had taken a drugs overdose in June 2000.

Speaking after the inquest son Jonathon said his mother's illness had got too much for his father and he had tried to take his own life a further two times before she died.

He said: "My dad found it very hard to cope, because of his illness he got very down. At one time both my mother and father were in hospital at the same time which was awful.

"My mother was a very strong and determined person, but it was dad who was secretly doing all the suffering."

The inquest heard how his wife's death was a great weighted lifted from Mr Opalka's shoulders, but he became increasingly lonely and Jonathon noticed that he was drinking every day.

The gambling started soon after.

He said that he had won $15,000 at an internet American casino and Jonathon said he advised him to leave it at that and see if they paid him out.

Mr Opalka began to look run down and relatives became increasingly concerned. Jonathon said he had subsequently discovered that after two weeks the debt had been $3,000 but by Christmas that had risen to $42,000.

As his obsession grew Mr Opalka ended up with 19 credit cards with limits of up to £6,000 which he used to gamble over the internet.

Two weeks before his death in January, Mr Opalka revealed the full extent of his problem to his son but by that time the debt had spiralled to £53,000.

Jonathon approached the casino by e-mail and explained the situation. At first they were sympathetic and said they may be able to refund something. But he said all they offered was $2,000.

"That knocked him sick," said Jonathon, "I feared he might try and take his own life because he had done that before."

Jonathon has been left with the debt, which has been reduced by £15,000 by the casino company.

He said the rest will be covered by the pension fund his father had and a death in service payment from the council.

He added: "He had dug a hole that was so deep he couldn't see a way out. It was such a shame because he was really intelligent and we could have got thorough it together.

"No matter what I said to him it didn't make him feel any better. We could have re-mortgaged the house and sorted it out that way but he wouldn't listen, I think he was ashamed."

Mrs Singleton said: "I may be nave in these matters but I wasn't aware these internet casinos existed.

"As I understand it people can easily lose track of how much they have spent and live in the permanent belief that the next throw of the dice will win it all back."

"This man nursed his wife through a horrible illness and subsequent death and found that extremely difficult to cope with.

"He sought solace not only in alcohol but also in gambling on the internet. That he could run up this massive debt is incredible and these internet casinos seem to me to be positively iniquitous."

Gamblers Anonymous says there are 375,000 people in the UK with a gambling problem.

Today a spokesman said that people committing suicide because of debts is not unusual and people usually come to them after they have tried to commit suicide and failed.