BY MARY ELLEN KLAS, BREANNE GILPATRICK AND YUDY PINEIRO

The Florida House of Representatives, which has consistently killed efforts to expand gambling in the state, suddenly resurrected a committee Monday for just one vote: to allow slot machines at 10 racetracks and jai-alai frontons, including four in Miami-Dade County.

The stated rationale for the change of mind: Tax revenue from gambling would help cut property taxes.

The other, less public, reason: a stadium for the Florida Marlins.

The deal would work like this: The House hates gambling but wants to give a $60 million subsidy to the Marlins to build a retractable-roof stadium. The Senate doesn't care for the Marlins stadium but has already voted to allow parimutuels throughout the state to put in slot machines.

So each chamber would hold its nose to pass a bill it dislikes to get something it badly wants.

House leaders denied Monday there is any direct link between the gambling bill and Marlins measure, but the sponsors are hopeful that since the gambling money would be steered to property tax cuts, both will survive.

''It appears to me there is a desire on the part of leaders of both chambers to give each issue a vote,'' said Sen. Steve Geller, the Senate Democratic Leader and sponsor of the slots bill. He added that the extra revenue from gaming would make the cost of the Marlins bill -- $2 million a year for 30 years -- ``easier to stomach.''

The House sponsor, Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican, said he would be ''appreciative'' if his push to bring the gambling bill to a vote provokes a Senate vote on the Marlins.

And Senate Republican Leader Dan Webster, a Winter Garden Republican, who last week vowed that the Marlins bill won't come to a vote in his chamber, on Monday gave a noncommittal ``we'll see.''

CLASS II SLOTS

The proposal would allow Calder Race Track, Flagler Dog Track, Miami Jai Alai, Hialeah Race Course and six other parimutuels around the state to offer slot machines -- known in Tallahassee parlance as ''video lottery terminals'' -- without getting voter approval. Hialeah would first have to reapply for its racing license.

The machines, also called Class II or bingo-style terminals, are identical to the ones now used by the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians at their casinos. They look like Vegas-style slots but produce lower payouts because players in essence bet against one another and not the house.

The House Environment and Natural Resources Council approved the bill 13-1 in an extrordinary late-session meeting, convened specially to pass the bill before a friendly committee.

The estimated $1 billion that would be raised from those nine facilites would be sent to school districts across the state, which would then have to reduce property taxes levied to pay for schools.

If the plan is approved, taxpayers could see savings of about 10 to 20 percent on the schools portion of their property tax bill.

''It's a tax cut,'' said the council's chairman, Rep. Stan Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican.

Gov. Charlie Crist said Monday he'd been told of the House proposal but is withholding judgment until he sees the final version of the bill.

''I want the Legislature to finish its job,'' he said. ''Then our lawyers will review the bill and we'll take a position.''

DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES

The deal is loaded with political curveballs. House Speaker Marco Rubio said he personally will vote against any bill to expand gambling, but added he won't stand in the way of letting it pass through his chamber.

Senate President Ken Pruitt is privately pushing for the passage of the slot machines bill and has said he won't stand in the way of a bill to assist the Marlins.

And Rivera, who is one of Rubio's closest lieutenants, personally supports gambling and is being courted by Miami-Dade gambling interests, who want to conduct a voter referendum next year to bring Vegas-style slot machines to county parimutuels next year.

But the conservative House is hostile territory for gambling measures, and there's no guarantee the slots bill will pass.

A more routine bill -- to loosen slots regulations at Broward's parimutuels by expanding the number and hours of operations of slot machines and allowing them to put ATMs on their property -- barely passed on a 61-52 vote on Monday.

Rivera said the vote sent a signal that his bill will have trouble. ''It certainly has challenges,'' he said.

There is no assurance the Senate will agree with the House proposal. The Senate version would allow all 25 parimutuels in the state to expand to Class II slots and generate an estimated $1.9 billion in tax revenue a year.

The House plan limits the new slots games to parimutuels in counties with populations of over 800,000, or within 40 miles of an existing casino operated by an Indian tribe. The bill prohibits Broward County parimutuels from offering the machines, unless they give up the Vegas-style Class III gaming devices they now use.

Some legislators complained Monday that the issue was rushed through.