Bradley International Airport may hold the ace card in the competition to host Connecticut's third casino.

Kevin Dillon, the executive director of the Connecticut Airport Authority, said Wednesday that space at the Sheraton Hartford Hotel at the airport could be turned into an "interim casino" while a permanent gaming venue is built at Bradley.

"We do believe it could be up and running relatively quickly," Dillon said, after disclosing the option at a panel discussion in downtown Hartford on development along the I-91 corridor north of the city.

One estimate places the start-up time at about six months, Dillon said.

Windsor Locks and three other municipalities — East Windsor, East Hartford and Hartford — have proposed locations for a satellite casino that would be jointly run by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.The push for the venue seeks to blunt competition — and a loss of revenue and jobs — posed by a $950 million casino now under construction by MGM Resorts International in nearby Springfield. The General Assembly will make the final decision on opening another casino.Dillon said the interim casino alternative is still in the conceptual stage, and it isn't known how many slots or tables might fit into such a venue.In a statement Wednesday, the owners of the 237-room hotel, The Waterford Group and The Simon Konover Cos., said they are willing to work with the airport on the project."The hotel is an amenity at the airport," the statement said. "If the airport location is selected for the casino, we would work closely with the airport authority to support their needs on both a short- and a long-term basis."Getting a jump on MGM's projected opening in the fall of 2018 has been key to the timeline for the state's third gaming venue.The tribes that operate the casinos — the Mashantucket Pequots and the Mohegans — still need to secure legislative approval to expand casino gambling beyond their reservations, not a sure bet. In the last session, the tribes won backing from legislators to identify a site.The tribes are not expected to have chosen a location by the start of the legislative session next week. Without a site, it may become difficult for the tribes to build support for an expansion of casino gambling in the state."While we have not set a deadline for site selection, we are aggressively working through our internal process to assure that we meet our goal — building a facility that preserves Connecticut jobs and revenue," said Andrew Doba, a spokesman for the tribal joint venture.At the airport, there are two options for a permanent gambling venue: on the site of the old Murphy terminal, now being demolished, or as part of a new, $225 million transportation center.Dillon said the airport authority sees the casino as an attractive source of revenue for Bradley.