HARTFORD — Three months after lawmakers passed a controversial bill to kickstart a Hartford area casino, the pieces are starting to come together — although it's anyone's bet when it will happen, or where.

On Thursday at the state Capitol, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, competitors since they opened for gaming in the 1990s, will unite in what they are billing as a "historic signing ceremony" to create the joint venture that would run a casino.

Soon after, the tribes are expected to request proposals from towns and private property owners eager to be the place where a casino will rise.

The two Connecticut casinos are in a race against the $800 million MGM Springfield facility, due to open in the next few years.

Initially projected to be completed by 2017, construction on the Massachusetts venue began in March but problems with an I-91 construction project have delayed it, perhaps until 2018. The idea behind the Connecticut casino is to siphon gamblers off the road to Springfield — by completing a smaller venue ahead of the Las Vegas company's grand opening.

In East Hartford, developer Anthony W. Ravosa Jr. is actively lobbying the tribes to pick his site — the long-boarded-up Showcase Cinemas on Silver Lane, which looms over I-84 — based on its nearness to Hartford, among other attributes.

"The process should be wrapped up by Thanksgiving," Ravosa said Wednesday. "It's important for the tribes to make a selection and come to the table to work with the host community."

Closer to Springfield, the Enfield Square Mall has emerged as an aggressive entrant in the competition. On Tuesday night the mall's management pitched a site — an add-on where a Macy's men's store now stands — to town council members.

The Enfield Square owners say a casino would be an opportunity to invest in the 787,000-square-foot mall, which opened in 1971 and hasn't been updated since 1986. The site "kills a lot of birds with one stone," said Marty Pelosi, the Enfield mall's general manager.

Pelosi, like Ravosa, has been in contact with tribal leaders since the tribes made a presentation in the spring about the economics of a Hartford area casino.

"They have visited the site," Pelosi said. "They weren't accompanied by us, but they came on their own."

The bill, passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, gives the tribes exclusive rights to build a casino on private land. They would jointly select a site, then return to the legislature for an approval bid that is expected to be hotly debated.

Lawmakers were divided on expansion of gaming in the north central part of the state, as Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun lobbied heavily, saying thousands of jobs are at stake. The tribes said casinos in New York and Massachusetts will attract gamblers away from the two landmark Connecticut locations — costing the Connecticut economy as many as 9,300 jobs, directly and indirectly.

MGM brought a lawsuit against the state in June, saying that Connecticut's law favoring the tribes is unconstitutionaland violates constitutional equal protection rights and the commerce clause, under which only the U.S. government can regulate interstate commerce. The state has an October deadline to respond to the suit, and plans to contest the charges, the attorney general's office has said.

Because MGM has not sought an injunction, the lawsuit would not, at least for now, impede the tribes' selection of a preferred site.

It was unclear from the tribes' announcement late Wednesday when details outlining the tribes' plans will emerge. But the planning is moving ahead.

At Enfield Square, one of two concepts revealed Tuesday in a glossy book shows a two-level casino of just under 152,000 square feet, where the current Macy's men's department store is located; a 1,200-space parking deck; a six-story, 300-room luxury-brand hotel; and a separate dining and entertainment venue of about 40,000 square feet.

The second proposal from Enfield Square would turn space currently occupied by Sears into a food court, and a Sears Auto Parts store as an entertainment venue.

Other sites that have come up for discussion include the former Showcase Cinemas in East Windsor, and land in Windsor Locks along Route 20 near Bradley International Airport. Sportech, owner of Winners off-track betting teletheater near the airport, has opposed a gaming expansion in surrounding towns.

Reporting by Mikaela Porter, Dan Haar and Kenneth R. Gosselin

Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant