Hartford - Advocates for slot machines at some of the state's off-track-betting facilities made their pitch Thursday during a public hearing at which the state's two casino-owning Indian tribes were conspicuously absent.

Jim Amann, a former Democratic state House speaker and a lobbyist whose clients include Shoreline Star, a Bridgeport OTB facility, called for the General Assembly to move quickly to protect the jobs and revenue generated by the pari-mutuel industry as well as Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, all of which are threatened by a proposed Springfield, Mass., casino and other gaming facilities approved in Massachusetts and New York.

"Inaction is not what we should be doing," Amann said. "This is a fight for survival for Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun and our pari-mutuels."

Amann testified in favor of a bill that would potentially authorize video slot machines at many of the state's existing OTB facilities, but primarily Shoreline Star, the Bradley Teletheater at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and Sports Haven in New Haven. Currently, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes that own the casinos have the exclusive right to operate slots in the state.

Amann said more than 4,000 jobs are in jeopardy at the casinos, which have been downsizing for several years, and the OTB facilities. He said behind-the-scenes talks have been taking place among the parties whose interests are at stake.

"They're conversations. I won't call them negotiations," he said. "For us to do nothing is unacceptable."

Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, a member of the legislature's Public Safety and Security Committee, which took testimony on the bill, asked Amann about the tribes' interest in opening "satellite" facilities of their own to fend off the out-of-state competition.

"The easiest way to do this," Amann said, is to add slot machines at existing OTB facilities, which he said could be accomplished quickly while requiring "zero" capital outlay. Such an approach would hinge on the tribes agreeing to accept a share of the additional slots revenue.

Outside the hearing room, Amann said he would suggest dividing the revenue generated by slots at OTB facilities among the state, the OTB facilities, the tribes and the municipalities that host the OTB facilities. Each would get 25 percent, he said.

"They're driving this," Amann said, referring to the tribes. "They might want 50 percent."

Supporters of the bill, authored by Rep. Peggy Sayers, D-Windsor Locks, whose district includes Bradley TeleTheater, said placing slots at OTB facilities would not represent an expansion of gambling in the state. Rather, they said, it would constitute a redistribution of the Connecticut slots inventory and keep existing gamblers from leaving the state to play.

"I'm not in favor of casino expansion, but we have to realize that the state has to stay competitive," said Rep. David Alexander, D-Enfield, whose district is within a few miles of the Springfield casino site. He said that as a member of a legislative task force that studied expanded-gambling options, he learned that "convenience" gamblers opt to play wherever slots are nearest.

"Like my 72-year-old father," Alexander said. "He wouldn't go to Springfield. He'd go on the back roads to Windsor Locks."

Advocates of those with gambling addictions urged that the bill set aside a portion of the additional slots revenue for the treatment of problem gamblers and to educate the public about the issue.

Cheryl Chandler, interim executive director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, a private nonprofit, said that while her organization takes no position on gambling itself, it does believe more gambling would expose more people to its negative effects. And slots, she said, are especially addictive.

Donna Zaharevitz, the CCPG's judicial liaison and a recovering problem gambler, told the committee about her own descent into addiction, which began when she won $27,500 at a slot machine.

"I would be dead or incarcerated today," she said, if not for the counseling help she got. She said she's been gambling-free for 16 years.

Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, and former U.S. Rep. Bob Steele, of Ledyard, who represented the Second Congressional District and ran unsuccessfully for governor, spoke in opposition to the bill, with Steele repeating arguments he regularly makes during public appearances in a personal campaign against expanded gambling.

"The casino business is topping out in many states, especially New Jersey and Connecticut," he said. "Slots are the worst form (of casino gambling), appealing to a mostly local, low-income clientele."

Adding slots at OTB facilities would create thousands of new Connecticut gamblers, Steele said.

While speaker after speaker referred to the years-long decline in revenues at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, both casinos made news Thursday involving expansion plans. The Mohegans announced they would finance construction of a 400-room hotel next to Mohegan Sun through the sale of more than $120 million in tribal bonds, while Foxwoods was mentioned as a potential partner in a New Bedford, Mass., casino project.

Both casinos pursued other casino licenses in Massachusetts, with Mohegan Sun losing bids in western Massachusetts and the Greater Boston region and Foxwoods failing in Greater Boston, too.

"If either of the tribes was granted a license in Massachusetts, we would not be having this discussion today," Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven, the public safety panel's co-chairman, said.

b.hallenbeck@thedaycom

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck