ATLANTA — Nearly a week after two gaming measures stalled at the Capitol, a Middle Georgia lawmaker wants to keep the slot wheels spinning on plans to bring casinos to Georgia.

Rep. Rusty Kidd, I-Milledgeville, said Friday that he plans to head back to Atlanta next week with a proposal for a new committee to study the impact of casinos in the state.

His proposal would follow the quiet death of two measures – one stipulating how the state would regulate casinos, and the other to ask voters whether they want casino gaming in Georgia. The bills languished in the House after being teed up for a vote.

Speaker David Ralston postponed the vote past Crossover Day, the last day for a bill to pass from one chamber of the Capitol to the other in order to survive, effectively killing the issue for this session.

“It’s not ready,” Ralston told reporters.

He made the decision after telling legislators to go home over the weekend and talk to constituents, particularly members of the faith community. He said he delayed the vote after hearing back from those lawmakers.

The failed bill would have licensed four casinos – including two outside the Atlanta area. Its sponsor, Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, said the facilities would have brought it in more than $1 billion in tax revenue and fees.

Kidd, a sponsor of that resolution, said he was disappointed that voters were not given a chance to have their say.

“The public needs to decide that,” he said, adding that it’s “too big of an issue” for 236 legislators to resolve.

A legislative committee spent last year studying casino gaming as a potential source of money for HOPE scholarships, pre-K and other education programs.

Kidd said a new committee should be formed to look at using revenue for other purposes, such as funding struggling rural hospitals or tax relief for small counties where local governments lean heavily upon property owners.

Kidd has said that would help broaden the appeal of casino gaming. Some lawmakers were cool to the idea of devoting the bulk of the gaming proceeds to the HOPE college scholarship.

A draft of Kidd’s resolution notes that gambling already exists in other forms in Georgia, such as the lottery, and more than 1 million people travel to neighboring states every year to visit casinos.

“Why shouldn’t that money stay in Georgia?” he asked.

Kidd also said he knows the perfect spot for a casino – the former site of Georgia Power’s Plant Branch, on Lake Sinclair in Putnam County in his district.