Miami-Dade voters are evenly divided on whether to allow casino gambling in South Florida, but opposition appears to be growing even as the Legislature debates competing plans to open the region to Las Vegas-style casino resorts, according to a new poll.

In a survey of 400 registered voters in Miami-Dade, voters split almost equally over the idea of large-scale casinos. The electorate is similarly divided over putting a destination resort and casino in downtown Miami on The Miami Herald’s waterfront property.

Pollster Bendixen & Amandi International conducted the poll Tuesday through Thursday for The Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald, WFOR-CBS 4 and Univisión 23 to gauge voters’ attitudes about casino gambling and other local issues. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

On gambling “the vote in the electorate is still very much split,” said Fernand Amandi, the firm’s managing partner.

Forty-four percent of respondents said they supported the concept of Las Vegas-style resorts, while 46 percent said they opposed it — a narrow difference within the poll’s margin of error. Ten percent did not answer or offered no opinion.

The poll also asked about specific plans for a $3.8 billion casino resort on Biscayne Bay proposed by Genting, a Malaysian casino company that bought The Herald property last year. Forty-seven percent of respondents said they supported the plan, and 45 percent said they were opposed — again within the margin of error — with 9 percent offering no opinion.

The voters’ attitudes toward Genting’s proposal remained largely unchanged even after hearing arguments for and against the project, the survey found. The poll is the first to publicly gauge voter sentiment about the Genting proposal.

The poll appears to reflect an increase in opposition to casinos in recent months: Just seven months ago, a Miami Herald survey of likely voters found only 38 percent opposed casino gambling in Miami and Miami Beach, with 50 percent supporting casinos and 12 percent saying they had no opinion.

Since that time, several civic and business leaders have spoken out publicly against Genting’s Miami project, which, as currently drawn, would be larger than any resort in Las Vegas. A second casino operator, Las Vegas Sands, is also exploring a casino, hotel and convention center downtown, and a third, MGM Resorts International, has also expressed interest.

In Tallahassee, lawmakers are considering differing proposals that would expand gambling by allowing a handful of casinos at mega-resorts costing at least $2 billion. Bills in the Senate and the House of Representatives would require local voters to approve any casinos by referendum.

Genting officials said they are confident that voters will accept casino gambling as they learn more about it.

“The bottom line is that the proposed legislation gives voters the last word on destination resorts. Those opposing the legislation want to deny local residents their right to make their voices heard on this issue,” said Jessica Hoppe, an executive with Genting subsidiary Resorts World Miami in a statement to The Herald.

Opponents of casinos worry about crime and a deteriorating quality of life: 39 percent of those polled who oppose casinos said they believe gambling will harm the community, and 22 percent said they worried casinos will attract more crime. Another 23 percent of opponents said they opposed gambling on principle.