SAN ANTONIO -- Speaking about the state's troubling $15 billion to 20 billion budget deficit, state Sen. Jeff Wentworth made a startling prediction: lawmakers looking to legalized gambling as a revenue source.

"I think you're going to see slot machines at racetracks and maybe even gambling casinos in this state for the first time in a long time," said Wentworth, a Republican from the 25th District, on Thursday.

With exceptions for the lottery and Indian casinos, gambling is illegal in Texas. It doesn't stop people from trying, though, with authorities around the state regularly busting illegal 8-liner operations in homes, businesses and outbuildings. Additionally, there is a strong pro-gambling lobby that regularly pushes expanding the state's tolerance for gambling.

Last legislative session, two separate bills to relieve the state's gambling laws died in their respective chambers, but lawmakers expect a similar push this year, and Wentworth, for one, said he believes they'll have more success.

Asked on her way back from the post office what she thought about the idea, Abigal Chester said she didn't have a problem with the idea.

"It's the same thing as the state lottery," said Chester.

Susan Elgin, whose husband is stationed in San Antonio, had a different take.

"I worry about the people who can't afford it, the ones who get sucked in," said Elgin. "It works sometimes. I think you just have to be careful, because sometimes the people who can least afford it are the ones who try to invest the most in it."

The success of any legislation to expand gambling may depend on who sits in the governor's chair. Democratic candidate Bill White has said he opposes legalized gambling. Republican incumbent Rick Perry in 2004 proposed a plan to allow video lottery terminals, which are similar to slot machines, in Indian casinos and racetracks, with the state using its share of the revenue to fund schools.