SPRINGFIELD | The Illinois Senate voted Tuesday to open three new casinos, including one in Chicago, to pay for building new roads and bridges and bailing out the Chicago area's struggling transit systems.

Existing casinos would also be allowed to expand under the plan for a roughly $13 billion construction program, including $200 million for mass transit.

The measure passed 37-15 and now goes to the House, which has rejected previous casino expansion plans.

Many senators, even some who voted for the gambling plan, complained that it was a poor solution to long-festering problems. Officials are finally taking action after warnings that the Chicago Transit Authority would cut service and raise fares without more money.

"It is a shame, it is a disgrace that after nine long months the best we can do today is further burden the taxpayers and working poor," said Sen. Martin Sandoval, D-Chicago.

But others defended the plan as a way to come up with money for much-needed improvements to roads, bridges and schools.

Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, said she'd like to see one of the new casinos in the south Chicago suburbs, which she represents, because area gamblers are flocking to place bets across the border in Indiana.

"It needs to be put in a place that would make the most money for the state," she said. "The language doesn't mention a specific place, and would basically go to the highest bidder."

The House is not scheduled to convene and study the issues until October, and the Senate legislation is likely to face a cold reception from Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.

House Democrats have maintained that major gambling expansion does not have enough votes to pass, and Madigan favors expansion of existing casinos and riverboats.

This is the second time since May that the Senate has passed a measure to add casinos as a way to boost revenue for a capital projects plan.

The earlier measure, which the House rejected, would have allowed all existing casinos to expand and brought a publicly owned casino to Chicago and offered four riverboat gaming licenses, including one for the south suburbs that would have had to have been constructed within 8 miles of the Indiana border and north of U.S. 30.

That language was stripped out of Tuesday's legislation, and while Chicago would receive one gaming facility, the decision on where the other two would be built falls to the Illinois Gaming Board.

-- The Lee News Service Springfield Bureau and Times Staff Writer Chris Keller contributed to this report.