House Speaker William J. Murphy said yesterday that the General Assembly would study in January whether the state should allow table games at its two slot parlors — Newport Grand and Twin River — or even add a full-fledged casino elsewhere in Rhode Island.

“In January, we have to take another serious look at whether we want to be up and running before Massachusetts,” he said. “If three casinos open in Massachusetts, then the financial health of our two slot parlors will be in jeopardy.

Murphy said gambling revenue critical to the state budget, which is projected to run a deficit for the next few years, will drain away to Massachusetts without action to protect Rhode Island’s slot parlors.

Rhode Island legislators will take up the gambling issue just a little more than a year after voters defeated a proposal to build a casino in West Warwick because Massachusetts Governor Patrick yesterday proposed licensing three full-scale casinos in the Bay State.

Patrick estimates the casinos would create 20,000 permanent jobs and raise $400 million in new annual revenues for Massachusetts — much of it coming from out-of-state tourists visiting venues in three locations across the state.

That money would help Massachusetts repair its aging roadways and transportation networks, help pay for a commuter line between Boston and New Bedford and finance an ambitious life-sciences project.

“With that potential economic benefit, we cannot reject the gaming industry out of hand,” Patrick said yesterday during an afternoon news conference in Boston. “Destination resort casinos can serve a useful role in our overall economic plan.”

Governor Carcieri, a Republican, doesn’t share the views of either Murphy, a Democrat from West Warwick, or Patrick, his Democratic counterpart in Massachusetts.

“Governor Carcieri has been consistent in that he believes that the gambling that [was already established] in Rhode Island before he took office is enough for this state,” said Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Carcieri.

The machines in Lincoln, along with those at Newport Grand, are projected to bring in $271.1 million this year — $222.2 million from Twin River and $48.9 million from Newport Grand. The two facilities pay the state roughly 60 percent of their revenue from the machines, which translates into about 11 percent of state revenue.

As much as $180 million or 40 percent of video-slot revenues here come from Massachusetts residents, according to Prof. Clyde Barrow, head of the Center for Policy Analysis at UMass-Dartmouth.

Gambling interests have long tried to convince politicians throughout New England that their state will come out ahead if it simply recaptures the money residents spend at casinos in Connecticut, New Jersey or Nevada, Neal pointed out.

“From a regional perspective, the casino industry has taken a divide-and-conquer approach to New England,” Neal said. “The danger is, once one New England state falls for that argument, all of the other New England states may be forced to take the same step.”

But what happens, Neal asked, when every state has a casino?

People won’t have to leave their home state to gamble, so they would wager less elsewhere. Ultimately, casinos would funnel less money from non-residents into their home states.

That seems to be a bet Patrick is willing to take to pay for the $1-billion life-sciences project and fill the $15-billion-to-$19-billion gap in transportation spending the state faces over the next 20 years. Included in that transportation spending is a proposed $1.4-billion commuter rail line from Boston to New Bedford.

The three licenses — in Southeastern Massachusetts, Western Massachusetts and the Boston area — would be put up for competitive bid, which could generate $600 million in licensing fees. The money would pay for a property-tax relief program.

The casinos would be regulated by a new, independent commission and a new enforcement office in the attorney general’s office, with the cost of those borne by the gambling venues.

Each casino would also have to give 2.5 percent of its gross revenue to a new Public Health Trust Fund, which would go to combat gambling addiction and other social programs.

“I believe resort casinos can bring significant economic benefits to the , with manageable impact on communities,” Patrick said.

Patrick’s proposal must now go to the Massachusetts legislature, where it’s expected to run into a fight. Salvatore F. DiMasi, speaker of the House in Massachusetts, is an outspoken opponent of gambling. The legislature there must approve Patrick’s plan for it to move forward.

Patrick’s plan follows the announcement this summer by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which wants to build a $1-billion casino on land it owns in Middleboro. The tribe could now try to outbid others for one of the licenses or continue along the lengthier route to win federal approval to build a fourth casino.

One of the backers of the Mashpee Wampanoags, investor Len Wolman, says it’s too early to tell how his investment group or the tribe will proceed.

“We’ve really got to see the governor’s report,” he said.

Regardless of whether the investment group develops a casino in Massachusetts, it still has a hand in the Rhode Island gambling market through BLB Investors LLC, which owns Twin River in Lincoln.

“We’ve made a $665-million investment in Twin River,” Wolman said. “We’re focused on growing that facility.”

People analyzing the New England gambling market expect Twin River to better withstand the effects of Massachusetts casinos than the smaller Newport Grand.

“I think [Newport Grand] is going to be in big trouble,” said Professor Barrow. “There’s a risk they could lose 40 to 50 percent of their revenue base,” if a casino opens in New Bedford.

Newport Grand is undergoing a $20-million expansion project that will increase its video-lottery terminals, or VLTs, to 2,101.

“Our focus is on the renovations and maximizing the revenues for the state of Rhode Island,” said Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for Newport Grand. “Massachusetts is just starting this process.”

pgrimald@projo.com