A slew of proposals to legalize gambling in the state is back on the table this year, but lawmakers have yet to focus on the issue.

About 15 bills in the House and Senate would legalize some form of gambling or create a task force to investigate different forms of gambling and their effects on the state, but none is scheduled for a hearing.

State Rep. Karl Rhoads, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said bills to legalize gambling likely would not have enough votes in his committee, but he plans to speak with committee members about whether to hear any gambling bills in the next few days.

"Speaker Souki asked me to poll the committee and see where they were on it, and I haven’t had a chance to do it yet," Rhoads (D, Chinatown-Iwilei-Kalihi) said Monday. "We’ve beaten gambling bills at second reading before, which is almost unheard of, so I really don’t think the votes are there. But as a courtesy to the speaker, I will at least check my own committee and see."

Souki (D, Wai­hee-Wai­ehu-Wai­luku), a supporter of legalized gambling, introduced several gambling-related bills in the House this session, including one that would allow for a stand-alone casino in Waikiki and another that would establish a state lottery commission and allow lottery gaming.

At a news conference Monday morning in the state Capitol courtyard, Peter Carlisle, former Hono­lulu mayor and prosecutor, said, "I can’t think of anything we need less in Hono­lulu, Hawaii, than legalized gambling. We have social gambling for people who want to do that, but we do not need a house (for gambling), we do not need all the ills it brings with (it)."

Officials with the Hono­lulu Police Department and member organizations of the Hawaii Coalition Against Legalized Gambling also reiterated their opposition to legalized gambling in the state.

"The Honolulu Police Department is opposed to any form of legalized gambling," said Capt. Jerry Ino­uye of the HPD Narcotics Division. "We believe that legalized gambling will lead to compulsive or addictive gambling, and … that will lead ultimately to an increase in crime. Hono­­lulu is already one of the safest cities in the United States, and we’re against anything that’s going to increase the crime rate."

Sen. Clayton Hee, chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee, said some gambling bills may be heard by the committee, but the issue is not a high priority.

"The plan is to hear some of the bills at least," Hee (D, Heeia-Laie-Wai­alua) said. "We simply haven’t had the luxury of time to go through the gaming measures. We may hear a few of them. We may hear all of them. We really haven’t made that determination.

"It’s not a high priority," he said. "I think that’s a fair statement."

Also referred to committee are several bills that would amend or clarify definitions in current state gambling laws to clearly ban the use of sweepstakes machines, which have been the subject of a number of HPD raids and seizures.

Prosecutor Keith Kane­shiro has said the machines are illegal gambling devices, but PJY Enterprises, the company that makes the machines, has said they are not illegal under current state laws because people can enter the sweepstakes without paying any money.

"We believe that the law as currently written does outlaw those machines," said Ino­uye of HPD. "However, there are bills that clarify the wording so that people won’t be conned into thinking that they are legal, because they are in fact illegal as the law is written."

The Senate Judiciary Committee could hear some of those bills as well, Hee said.