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HARTFORD — Lawmakers who want the casino industry in Connecticut to battle out-of-state competition have a tough path ahead.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday reported that three in four Connecticut voters oppose having more casinos in Connecticut. And a similar slice of voters say they are against having casino gambling in their hometown.

"The opposition to having more casinos in the state was pretty overwhelming," Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, told reporters at the Capitol.

Only 20 percent of Connecticut voters support adding more gambling sites.

Schwartz, however, cautioned that the numbers are more of a benchmark.

"It's where the voters stand right now," he said, "but it could change. We will see as the proponents of casino expansion make their case. We will see if they are able to persuade voters to their side."

Regardless, the survey outlines the task that faces lawmakers in selling their proposal to allow up to three new casinos that would be run jointly by the Mohegan and Mashantucket Pequot tribes.

When the poll asked more specifically about allowing the two tribes to run smaller casinos near Massachusetts and New York, the opposition thinned to 59 percent against and 36 percent in support.

Two senators pushing such a plan, Majority Leader Bob Duff and Tim Larson, did not let the bleak public opinion deter them.

"It depends how you frame the question," Duff said in an interview.

"If we asked residents of the state of Connecticut if two of our major employers that already lost 8,500 jobs and could lose thousands of other jobs, would you support helping them? I think residents would support helping not only the tribes but the workers," said Duff, D-Norwalk.

Larson, who overseas gambling issues as co-chairman of the public safety and security committee, said he supports letting the casinos figure it out.

"These guys are in the business. I'm sure they have done their own polling," said Larson, D-East Hartford. One reason for adding more casinos, he said, is to secure the future of public funds now used for treating problem gambling.

Voters, however, are skeptical of any expansion's effect on problem gambling. Sixty-two percent say adding casinos in the state would lead to an increase in gambling addiction.

"I'm very supportive of letting the market drive where business should go," Larson said.

Whether that market can find a town open to hosting a casino is another question. Just 23 percent of voters say they support having a gambling establishment in their town, according to the poll.

The proposal for new casinos polled lower than a push in recent years to allow keno betting at restaurants, bars and convenience stores. In a March 2014 poll, keno registered with 29 percent in support and 65 percent against.

Most voters, 62 percent, say that the state's current gambling situation is a good thing for Connecticut, and 29 percent say it is a bad thing.

The fervent push for new gaming in Connecticut hopes to protect gaming jobs and state revenues from casinos as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York advance new gambling projects.

Reports show that neighboring gambling establishments have already started to attract spending that otherwise would have made it to the slot machines or card tables at Foxwoods Resorts Casino or Mohegan Sun. The most proximate threat to casino officials is an $800 million plan by MGM Resorts International for a resort casino in downtown Springfield.

The poll also found that 56 percent of voters have not visited either Connecticut casino in the past year.

Quinnipiac University conducted the poll from March 6 to March 9, surveying 1,235 registered voters in Connecticut. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant