A Senate committee sent a message to the House on Monday -- that electronic gambling machines are still an option for paying for smaller class sizes and better teacher pay in Florida.

With strong backing from South Florida's pro-gambling legislators, the Senate Regulated Industries committee passed a video gambling bill sponsored by chairman Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami.

The Senate isn't afraid to consider gambling and other such options, Diaz de la Portilla said.

"I think we sent a message to the House today," he said. "It is a solution that is real, and it is a solution that is not an expansion of gambling. It allows us to live within our means without shortchanging our children and their education."

Supporters say that electronic gambling could funnel from $500 million to $1 billion a year toward education. The money would come from thousands of video lottery terminals at 23 racetracks and jai-alai frontons across the state. Eight of those facilities are in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

The VLTs would pay out at a rate of 88 to 95 percent, meaning that for every dollar gamblers put in the machine, 88 to 95 cents would be returned in winnings. The other 5 to 12 cents would go to the state and the parimutuels.

Education would get 42 percent of that 8 to 12 cents. The parimutuels would receive 57.25 percent, which would be split in a complicated formula that goes toward purses at races and events. Less than 1 percent would go toward administration and gambling addiction programs.

A House committee shot down VLTs last week, and both the governor and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, have repeatedly rebuffed the idea of expanding gambling in the state.

House leaders reiterated their opposition to gambling during a Republican caucus meeting later in the day.

Rep. Randy Johnson of Winter Garden told fellow Republicans that depending on gambling to balance the state budget was like picking "low-hanging fruit."

"Things are tough right now," said Johnson, chairman of the Finance and Tax committee, "but that doesn't mean we should change what we believe in."

Just one senator opposed the VLT proposal in committee Monday. Sen. Walter "Skip" Campbell, D-Tamarac, said his concerns about gambling came after talking to gamblers at the Seminole Indian casino from his district in Coconut Creek.

"There are older people who live in my district who go through their Social Security checks," Campbell said.

"I am very much concerned about the human side of the gambling."