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A decision on whether the state’s sixth and final casino license will go to MGM Resorts International, Penn National Gaming or Greenwood Racing is likely to be made before Christmas, said the commission’s chairman, Donald C. Fry. But he said that in awarding each of the state’s first five licenses, the commission had only one applicant left at this point in the process and, therefore, finds itself in unfamiliar territory

“This is the first time it’s been truly competitive at the decision-making stage, which is what the legislature always intended to have,” Fry said. Considering multiple proposals “complicates things,” said Fry, a former Democratic state senator who was appointed to chair the commission by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) in 2008. “I shouldn’t say ‘complicates,’ but it changes the dynamic.”

On Friday, the last day of presentations, Fry was visiting one of the three sites proposed by the three competitors: a dusty gravel parking lot overlooking the Potomac River near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge that MGM Resorts International would like to transform into a gambling mecca. By the summer of 2016, the 23-acre site could house MGM National Harbor, a $925 million casino that would have 3,600 slot machines, 140 gaming tables, a 300-room hotel tower, several celebrity chefs, a concert theater, a spa and other amenities.

Traffic rumbled past on the nearby Capital Beltway as men and women in dark suits crowded around architectural renderings and models of MGM National Harbor, a dramatic, national monument-inspired property that would have its own reflecting pool.

“I have to win this, or my wife will kill me,” MGM Resorts Chairman Jim Murren joked. “She’s from Maryland.”

The Prince George’s casino license was approved by Maryland voters in November as part of a dramatic expansion of gambling in the state, including the addition of live-action table games and 24-hour casino operations. MGM spent more than $40 million to push for the referendum’s passage.

Penn National Gaming spent more than $42 million to fight the plan, most likely to protect the profits of the company’s cash cow, Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, W.Va., according to analysts. Now, with gambling revenue falling significantly in Charles Town, the casino has been laying off dealers and taking some of its table games offline. The director of the West Virginia Lottery told reporters last week that the casino’s woes are directly related to Maryland’s gambling growth.