CHARLESTON - State Sen. Robert Ford will continue his push to revive the gambling industry in South Carolina when the General Assembly reconvenes next month.

Ford, D-Charleston, said gambling could bring $1.3 billion to the state coffers - money that could help with some of South Carolina's budget problems.

"This is an industry that would generate a lot of money for the state, a lot of it from tourists," Ford said. "We are in serious financial trouble, and we need to find new revenues. I don't think we can ignore this."

The state is between $350 million and $500 million in debt, and for the fifth-straight year, it has posted no revenue gains. The state has made massive budget cuts the past three years, and more cuts could be made this year.

Ford has sponsored two bills to bring back the state's gambling industry. The latest bill, prefiled earlier this month, would allow for the creation of dockside gambling in the state, similar to what can be found in Mississippi, Louisiana and Missouri.

Another of Ford's bills, filed last year, calls for the reintroduction of video poker. That bill, now in a subcommittee, says video poker establishments could not operate near churches or neighborhoods and the machines would not be allowed in convenience stores.

Ford said the state lost a $3 billion industry when video gambling was banned statewide in 2000. The state failed to tax the industry at the time. Ford's bill calls for reinstitution of video poker with a 25 percent tax.

"If we had taxed it, it would have generated $750 million for the state," Ford said.

The idea of returning to state-sponsored gambling is not popular with members of the General Assembly.

"That idea is DBA: dead before arrival," said Rep. John Graham Altman III, R-Charleston. "Orville and Wilbur could get off the ground, but Ford can't with that."

Altman said most people don't want to solve the state's budget woes by creating another problem.

"That industry sucked $3 to $4 billion out of our people's pockets every year," he said. "That was money that could have been spent in grocery stores, on wives and children. We got out of that jungle once, and we ain't going back."

Despite the opposition from the Republican-controlled House and Senate, Ford plans to push on with his bills.

"I'll keep on, because what they are doing now isn't going to solve our problem," Ford said.