It will be months before the debate over gambling heats up again, but key players got some warm-up swings in last week.

It all came with news that a deal is in place to bring three $500 million casinos to Massachusetts, one of them near New Hampshire, and a major slot machine parlor, too.

The New Hampshire House has been steadfast against gambling in the past. But, hey, the new breed of Republican, freedom loving protectors of individual rights will go a different way, right?

Maybe.

Speaker of the House Bill O’Brien, whose managing techniques prompted the State House anti-bullying bill, said several times in an interview he does not want to pre-judge the issue. O’Brien said he will let the debate play out, but he has shown himself more than willing to push his opinion once it’s formed.

He said limiting the number of casino licenses could become an issue, since it would create monopolies. He said he’s concerned about the quality and sustainability of jobs. There’s also the potential for corruption, or at least heavy handed lobbying by a powerful industry, he said.

O’Brien said he delayed the gambling debate until budget work was done so there would not be pressure to find more revenues.

Rep. Edmond Gionet, R-Lincoln, and Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, each have sponsored a bill. Gionet’s would set up two video slot parlors in the northern and southern tier of the state. D’Allesandro’s would include three full casinos and a slot parlor.

D’Allesandro said the gaming issue is a perfect fit for House libertarians.

“Why wouldn’t this be a wonderful thing for them?’ he asked. “If a guy wants to invest money, it gives him an opportunity to do that. If a person wants to gamble, we ought to give them that opportunity.’’

Jim Rubens, chairman of the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, said, “The proposals we see in New Hampshire are not about freedom, they are about assigning monopolies to well-connected interest groups.’’

He said one could argue that expanded gambling would produce revenue to feed the beast of government the Tea Party is trying to starve.

On the other hand, New Hampshire gamblers are already feeding the beast in Connecticut and Maine. Massachusetts would benefit next.

Kevin Smith, executive director of the conservative Cornerstone Action organization, thinks Massachusetts put the nail in the coffin on gambling here.

“With Massachusetts now saturating the casino market with four new facilities, along with Maine considering adding two more casinos in addition to their existing two, it should be abundantly clear to lawmakers here that there is no market for casinos in New Hampshire — and the Granite State is better off for it.’’

We’d say: Don’t bet on it.

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Rep. Andrew Manuse, R-Derry, isn’t happy with state Republican Party Chairman Jack Kimball’s decision to stand and fight.

“Jack Kimball has the right principles in his heart, but he is distracting from the important effort to restore limited government and individual liberties and restrict government spending,’’ he said.

“He’s making this about him, and the Tea Party is about something more than him. It’s the people’s movement, and it’s not dependent on what happens to Jack Kimball.’’

Manuse was among a select few Kimball scolded in April over Republican attacks on Roman Catholic Bishop John McCormack. Manuse was considering a bill to end the Catholic Church’s tax exempt status because McCormack criticized the House budget bill’s effect on the poor and sick.

Also dressed down were House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt, who called McCormack a “pedophile pimp,’’ and Rep. Tim Comerford, who called McCormack a “corrupt scumbag.’’

Kimball said the remarks showed the House GOP was distracted from its mission to get the state’s financial house in order.

Manuse doesn’t speak for everyone in the Tea Party camp.

Jerry DeLemus, who flanked Kimball Thursday with his wife, Rep. Susan DeLemus, R-Rochester, said Republican regulars are playing with fire.

“I think the GOP should worry. I don’t think the Tea Party needs to worry about this. If nothing else, we’re a united bloc, well-determined and well-educated on the issues,’’ he said.

The fight over leadership and threats to withhold contributions, he said, “isn’t hurting Jack, it’s hurting the Republican Party. To me, that’s unconscionable.’’

The dispute leaves Congressmen Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass in a funny spot. They’ve embraced the Tea Party — in Guinta’s case, with a bear hug. Now they’re pushing out Kimball, the state’s leading Tea Partier, little more than a year before his reelection bid.

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Disruption within the Republican Party is nothing new. A big tent makes lots of room for big fights. A few blasts from the past:

March 1995. Three-time Chairman John Stabile takes the GOP chairman’s post again when Steve Duprey resigns after business associates are indicted in federal court. He fires GOP Executive Director Charlie Arlinghaus a year later, then loses to Tom Rath in a race for the state’s national committeeman slot.

November 2000. Mike Dennehy, a national committeeman and former GOP executive director, criticizes Duprey over his performance as state chairman, saying change is in order. Duprey later steps aside for John Dowd, who sees the 2002 “Phone Jam’’ scandal under his watch.

February 2011. GOP Chairman Jack Kimball goes on defense one day after Will Wrobleski starts as executive director. A week earlier, Wrobleski said Tim Pawlenty was not conservative enough to get his vote. The remark got national attention and forced Kimball to reiterate the party’s neutrality in the presidential primary.

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The AFL-CIO has endorsed a Republican in a Sept. 6 special House election in Seabrook. Kevin Janvrin won the union’s backing over former Democratic Party staffer Ryan Mahoney.

Janvrin, a 19-year union member, is a Seabrook firefighter who has committed to sustaining Gov. Lynch’s veto of the right-to-work bill.

AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie said that when two candidates are alike on the issues, the nod goes to the union member.

Janvrin had hedged on right-to-work in an interview right after he won a five-way GOP primary.

“We’re confident he’s going to support our position on right-to-work if he’s elected, and on other issues, too,’’ MacKenzie said. “I think he understands what’s being asked of him by working people.’’

Right-to-work would bar contracts that require non-union members to pay partial dues to offset the cost of negotiating union contracts that must protect all workers.

MacKenzie is having conversations with Central Paper Products President/CEO Fred Kfoury in Manchester on the issue. Kfoury agreed to a Mitt Romney campaign request to star in a video supporting right-to-work. A day after the video hit the Romney website, more than 20 union pickets hit the pavement outside Central Paper.

MacKenzie said he pointed out that no one can be forced to join a union, as right-to-work advocates often claim.

Kfoury, who signed a Business and Industry Association petition favoring right-to-work, said he thinks workers feel pressured to join even if they aren’t forced.

Kfoury said he is not an active Romney supporter.

Romney spokesman Ryan Williams agreed and said Romney called Kfoury when he heard of the union action.

He called it “a disgraceful attempt by President Obama’s union cronies to coerce and intimidate anybody who disagrees with their job-terminating policies.’’

MacKenzie said there has been no attempt to organize Central Paper — “Not yet,’’ he said. “I think there are people who are interested.’’

Kfoury noted that he and MacKenzie sit together on the state Unemployment Commission Advisory Council. Should be an interesting meeting next month.

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The state Democratic Party announced that Manchester Alderman Pat Arnold and former state Sen. Deborah Reynolds are co-chairs of its annual convention Sept. 26 at Concord High School.

Democratic National Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Deborah Wasserman Schultz of Florida will be speaker.