A proposal to create a statewide gaming commission and allow voters to approve up to three mega casinos cleared its first hurdle Monday in the Florida Senate.  However, the odds appear to have grown longer against the success of the bill.

The Senate Regulated Industries Committee voted 7-3 on Monday in support of the Destination Gaming bill.

In voting against the bill, SB 710, Sen. Charles Dean, R-Inverness, said the bill reaches “too far” and “too fast” in expanding gaming in Florida.  Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne, added that the bill doesn’t fit with the image many have of Florida.

“This doesn’t fit into our scheme of what we want to be and what we want to represent as a family friend destination,” Altman said.

Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, called the bill too vague for an unelected gaming commission to interpret and would create an expansion of gaming across the state.

Thrasher’s objection, which wasn’t unexpected, places a potential barrier for the bill reaching the Senate floor.

He added after the meeting that he currently has no plan -- unless Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, asks -- to put the bill before his Rules Committee.

The bill must go before the Rules Committee if it clears its next stop before the Senate Budget Committee.

“We haven’t had the first indication from the House if they have any interest in this bill yet,” Thrasher said.  “So I have a feeling this bill will slow down dramatically until we see some movement, if any, from the House.”

Thrasher added that he hasn’t made any promises to move the bill forward in the Rules Committee.

“I assume have the same discretion as other committee member have,” said Thrasher, who added that he was “benevolent” in moving members’ bills when House speaker.

Haridopolos has said he would like a quick up or down floor vote on the bill.

Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, remains hopeful the bill, which she will continue to tweak to please senators, will reach the Senate floor.

“I don’t know that the (president) would let us put this much time and energy into and not at least have its opportunity,” she said after the meeting.

During the meeting, Bogdanoff noted she has worked to satisfy the committee members without watering down the goal to establish an appointed board that controls the growth of gambling in the state.  

“We have barrel racing because we have a department that gave out a permit,” “With a gaming commission it’s going to be much more transparent.”

She also said the state is more diverse than the oft-repeated phrase that Florida is a family-friendly state.

While the state has family friendly attractions, it is third in the nation in revenue generated by gaming, from the pari-mutuels, to the Seminole Indian compact to the Florida Lottery, and fourth in the nation in tribal gaming.

“People do not go to South Beach to see Mickey Mouse, they just don’t, they go there for different reasons,” she said. “We have the strip club capital of the world in Tampa.  I hate to say it out loud, but we do.  We have not ruined our family friendly image.”

“We can handle it.”

Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said the bill brings the possibility of creating up to three casinos that require $2 billion in construction and amenities.

“Here is the possibility of creating jobs,” he said. “It isn’t every day in this economy that you have companies coming forward willing to invest billions of dollars into our economy willing to create an additional destination for tourists.”

Democrats, who in the House haven’t shied away from the fact that the bill’s sponsors will need their help to succeed, gave the bill the support it needed to survive the Regulated Industries Committee.