Casino companies would bid against each other for the right to open a huge new gambling operation in Minnesota under a bill introduced in the Legislature on Monday.

Rep. Lynda Boudreau, a Faribault Republican, proposed a constitutional amendment that would give voters the right to accept or reject the casino plan. She proposed using a 25 percent state tax on casino revenues to pay for college scholarships for up to two-thirds of all Minnesota high school graduates.

In January, when Boudreau announced the casino-scholarship plan, she said the Legislature could authorize a casino without amending the constitution. The actual bill is a change from that.

So far, the amendment does not have a Senate sponsor, but Boudreau said a senator would step forward.

The bill would authorize a single privately owned casino.

When she first talked about the casino, Boudreau said her legislation would require a $100 million up-front licensing fee from any gaming company licensed by the state to operate a casino. The legislation Monday leaves that fee in question. Companies would bid for the right to operate the casino through a sealed-bid competition based on the fees they were willing to pay.

Lobbyists for Caesar's Entertainment Inc., which operates casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, have worked closely with Boudreau. The company wants to put a casino at the Mall of America in Bloomington.

Boudreau's bill does not specify a location, but it includes two site-selection criteria favoring a Mall of America site. The criteria favor a casino that would be close to other tourist attractions and close to the "an international airport."

When she proposed the casino in January, Boudreau said it would produce $250 million. That would be enough, she said, to give $2,500-a-year scholarships to students who maintained at least a "B" average in high school and planned to attend a four-year college in Minnesota, and $2,000-a-year scholarships to technical college students who had a "C" average.

Another element of the bill would significantly reduce the state taxes paid by charities and nonprofit groups that sponsor pull-tab gambling in bars and restaurants. Boudreau said the charities feared a decline in profits.