PROVIDENCE � The Senate Finance Committee voted to endorse a bill Tuesday that would allow Twin River Casino in Lincoln to offer lines of credit to casino players.

PROVIDENCE � The Senate Finance Committee voted to endorse a bill Tuesday that would allow Twin River Casino in Lincoln to offer lines of credit to casino players.

And the panel endorsed another bill that would prohibit casinos from attaching real estate � putting liens on the property � of players who have lines of credit but are in debt to the casino.

The proposals next go to the Senate.

The panel heard Tuesday from Craig Eaton, who represented Twin River, that casinos offering certain customers credit, sometimes referred to as �casino markers,� is standard practice in the industry. It is done at Connecticut�s casinos, he said.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, D-Providence, voted out of committee would give up to $75,000 of credit to qualified casino customers. An applicant goes through a process to determine worthiness to receive credit, Eaton told the committee. It would be interest-free, unsecured credit on the state-sponsored gambling.

The state would bear no financial risk, under the bill, the committee was told at the hearing.

Supporters of bills to prohibit casinos from using liens � the one endorsed Tuesday is sponsored by Sen. Louis DiPalma, D-Middletown � have said family members may be unaware of someone�s gambling and then suddenly are threatened with loss of their home.

In May, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on the companion bill by Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, to prohibit casinos from putting liens on the property.

A report by Channel 12 (WPRI) said a number of Rhode Island homeowners faced property liens after going to Connecticut casinos. The television report indicated Foxwoods Resort Casino took out liens on Rhode Island residences �30 times mainly since 2004.�

But Patti Doyle, spokeswoman for Twin River, has said the practice of putting liens on real estate is not something Twin River does or ever will. The casino has never extended credit before, but Doyle has said the credit is something it wants to have available for patrons who are qualified.

On Tuesday, Eaton said Twin River is supportive of the bill to bar attaching property/liens.

Doyle has said Twin River, not the state or Division of Lotteries, would be responsible for any failure of repayment and any failure to repay would not affect the state�s table games revenue and income from terminals.

For Twin River to collect, it would be turned over to a collections agency, which would seek to collect owed money via letters and calls.

Meanwhile, the committee on Tuesday put a hold on a bill that would require smoking lounges � such as hookah bars, which have boomed in popularity in Rhode Island � to register with the state Division of Taxation and prove on a quarterly basis to the division that they derive the majority of their revenue from tobacco.

A 2005 state law banned indoor smoking, but made exception for smoking lounges. Under the law, a business must file an affidavit with the Division of Taxation every year attesting that at least 51 percent of the business�s annual revenue comes from tobacco.

The state Department of Health supports the bill and did not support the exemptions that allowed the smoking lounges, a spokesman has said. The American Lung Association has also supported the legislation.

But on Tuesday, Sen. David E. Bates, R-Barrington, a Senate Finance Committee member, said �we�re in the process of streamlining regulations� and cast the bill as �exactly the opposite of what we are trying to do.�

The committee chairman indicated that perhaps he could talk to the bill�s sponsor, Sen. Gayle L. Goldin, D-Providence, to see if it could be amended.