COLUMBIA - The Senate's greatest foe of banning casino boats said Thursday he now agrees with a proposal to let counties ban or regulate the vessels.

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, a frequent visitor to the casino boats at Little River, said during a TV debate that he does not disagree with the approach in a bill proposed by Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, and Sen. Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet.

Ford and Campsen were featured on the first "This Week in the Senate" show on S.C. Educational Television's digital channel, in a minidebate moderated by Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, the president pro tem of the Senate.

McConnell said casino boats were fitting to start off the program because they are "one of our more colorful issues" and Ford and Campsen are "two of our most colorful senators."

Ford said the state has beautiful coasts and mountains and "we're not taking advantage of it like we should" by discouraging casino boats that bring in tourists.

Gambling isn't conducted until boats are in federal waters, "so I can't understand" the opposition to them, Ford said.

"To me, it's fundamentally a quality-of-life issue," Campsen said. Local communities should be able to control their own destiny, he said.

"It may be good for Little River, it may not be good for Edisto," which prefers to celebrate its atmosphere of low-profile buildings and mossy oak trees, he said.

"The oak trees aren't going to bring any revenue," Ford said.

Towns and counties such as Georgetown that have passed ordinances against the boats "just don't want this to happen," and they should not have it forced upon them by federal law, Campsen said.

Georgetown County was sued by a prospective operator who wanted to dock a casino boat in Murrells Inlet. The county lost and is appealing.

The boats can operate under a 1992 federal law unless the state bans them. Campsen and Cleary's bill delegates the state's authority to cities and counties.

The bill exempts passenger ships such as those that call on Charleston. Most of those have gambling rooms. Those ships do not have the impact of casino boats that dock in a location permanently and make several trips a day, Campsen said.

"If you have gambling come and reside amongst us ... it does impact the entire society," he said.

Managers of one of the boats at Little River complained that Campsen has a conflict of interest because he owns tour boats in Charleston. McConnell said that is not a conflict of interest because the bill would not ban casino boats.

The bill could come up for floor debate next week.