House Speaker Armond Budish, a Beachwood Democrat who is more receptive to gamb-ling, has said he backs a referendum on the issue.

Yesterday, fans rallied for a proposal that would allow 14,000 video slot machines at the state's seven racetracks. Two of the tracks are in Franklin County: Scioto Downs south of Columbus and Beulah Park in Grove City.

The Ohio State Racing Commission, which endorses the proposal, estimates that it could provide as much as $625 million a year for public education by 2013.

The state is confronting a budget shortfall that could reach $3 billion in 2010-11. Backers of the slots-at-racetracks plan say gambling revenue won't fix the state budget but would provide a more attractive alternative to large tax increases or broad cuts in state services.

"We face a debacle of epic proportions in our state," said state Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, addressing the rally. "Maybe now that the situation has gotten dire enough, we will now do what we should have done many long years ago, and what many other states have done many long years ago."

Seitz called on Gov. Ted Strickland to "get off his moral high horse" and support the plan.

Strickland wasn't biting.

"I would tell (supporters) what I have told them several times in the past, that my position remains unchanged, and that I do not believe that this is the right way for Ohio to deal with our budget or to try to fund education," the governor said yesterday. "I think the people of our state have spoken on this issue clearly, multiple times, and until the people change their mind about the issue, then I am supporting what I believe to be the will of the people of Ohio."

In 2006, voters defeated a proposal to allow 31,500 slot machines at racetracks and two free-standing casinos in Cleveland. Last year, voters rejected a plan for a single casino near Wilmington.

A Michigan entrepreneur and a Pennsylvania gamb-

ling company have teamed up to put a proposal for four casinos in Ohio's largest cities on the November ballot. Additionally, a group of restaurants and bars is hoping to persuade Strickland to allow a limited number of slot machines at their businesses in communities that vote for them.

Supporters of the racetrack plan say it's superior because revenue would stay in Ohio and because the money would help revitalize the state's equine industry.

A portion of slot-machine profits would go into purses for racing, which backers say would attract better horses and, in turn, more spectators.

State Rep. Ronald Maag, a Republican from Warren County, said the number of registered racing stallions in Ohio has decreased from about 500 in 1984 to 18 or 19 today.

In an interview, Seitz said he would like a slots-at-racetracks plan placed into the state budget, but with specific language that lets each county where slots would be located to vote on whether slots should be allowed to operate. Those would be Lucas, Franklin, Cuyahoga, Warren and

Hamilton counties.

Many in and around the Senate Republican caucus say pro-gambling interests continue to circle, sensing a new opportunity created by the state's budget crisis and reeling economy.

Harris said he has not heard from state senators that they are interested in putting a slots proposal in the budget. "Any issue like that ought to go to the voters."

Dispatch reporters Jim Siegel and Mark Niquette contributed to this story.

jnash@dispatch.com