The legislative panel that drafted the bill authorizing the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to operate up to three more casinos in the state passed the measure Thursday. 

By a 15-8 vote, the Public Safety and Security Committee endorsed the legislation, an initial step in a process that could involve reviews by other committees and votes in the House and Senate. Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and Rep. Linda Orange, D-Colchester, the only members of the committee from eastern Connecticut, voted with the majority, as did the panel’s co-chairmen, Sen. Timothy Larson, D-East Hartford, and Rep. Stephen Dargan, D-West Haven. 

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has not indicated whether he would sign the bill into law if it were to reach his desk. 

Testifying Tuesday during a public hearing on the bill, Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, and Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, urged the public safety committee to pass the bill, saying it would enable the tribes to protect state revenue and jobs at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun from out-of-state competition in place or looming in Massachusetts, New York and beyond. 

Democratic leaders in the Senate released statements of support after the committee’s vote. 

“Make no mistake; Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island are targeting Connecticut’s jobs,” said Martin Looney of New Haven, the Senate president pro tempore. “If they succeed, it will be a body blow to the thousands of gaming industry jobs in eastern Connecticut. Today’s vote will allow us to continue working with the tribes to protect these jobs.” 

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff of Norwalk echoed the sentiment. 

“Today’s vote sends a strong message that we will fight for Connecticut’s jobs,” he said. “Other states have declared war on Connecticut workers and we will do everything within our power to ensure that Connecticut stays competitive.” 

Butler and Brown appeared Thursday morning on WNPR’s “Where We Live” program, as did Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, a critic of the casino bill. 

Brown described the new casinos the tribes would build as “medium-size, first-class locations.” Each would contain about 1,800 slot machines, 75 table games and “a couple of restaurants,” he told the show’s host, John Dankosky. 

Each of the facilities could cost $200 million to $300 million, Butler said, all of which would be borne by the tribes. 

The chairmen revealed that the state could get a greater share of the new casinos’ gaming revenues than it now does from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. While the state takes 25 percent of the existing casinos’ slots revenues, it also could be entitled to 25 percent of any new casino’s table-games revenue, they said. 

The proposed casinos would be commercial ventures, unlike Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, which operate on sovereign land in accordance with the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck