Topeka ? Two Wyandotte County legislators joined Monday with opponents to table a gambling bill that supporters claimed would benefit the Kansas City area the most.

The vote by the House Tourism Committee was 9-7. The panel does not plan to meet again this year.

The committee debated the bill for more than two hours before Rep. Margaret Long, D-Kansas City, made a motion to table the bill and Rep. Broderick Henderson, D-Kansas City, seconded the motion.

Long said she does not think the bill treated gambling “as a business.”

The plan would have allowed slot machines and other electronic gambling devices at the state’s five pari-mutuel racing venues as well as one unspecified at-large site.

Supporters say the bill would raise money for the state, save the foundering racing industry and recapture millions of dollars spent by Kansans at Missouri and Indian casinos.

The actions by Long and Henderson surprised supporters of the bill. Wyandotte County lawmakers are the strongest proponents.

“The Wyandotte delegation decided if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted to, they weren’t going to play,” said Rep. Clay Aurand, R-Courtland.

Members of a subcommittee, led by Aurand, drafted the proposal and estimated it could raise $80 million a year for the state.

But Long said the committee should have focused on bringing gambling to Kansas and not on trying to save The Woodlands, which has separate dog and horse racing tracks, in Kansas City. The owners of the track have said it will close if the Legislature doesn’t allow slot machines at the facility.

Aurand said the chances of producing a gambling bill this session are slim.

“It has no pulse,” he said. “Last rites are being read to it right now.”

The bill is Sub for HB 2890.