As picking a site for a third casino in Connecticut nears, legislators remain willing to listen to pitches that could take the state in a different direction — including opening up the field to more potential operators.

"We haven't drafted a bill yet, and even before we think about drafting a bill and have a public hearing, we need to get feedback from all the stakeholders and put all the options on the table," said Rep. Joe Verrengia, D-West Hartford. Verrengia is co-chairman of the public safety and security committee, which oversees gaming.

The committee has invited those stakeholders to give their pitches to the committee on Thursday, as the joint venture formed by the operators of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, MMCT, deliberates on its choice for putting a casino in the Hartford area.

Those invited include MMCT; MGM, which is building a casino and entertainment complex in Springfield; two additional Native American tribes in Connecticut, the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and the Golden Hill Paugussetts; Sportech, which operates an off-track betting venue in Windsor Locks; and the spurned developer who wanted to build MMCT's casino in East Hartford.

The Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans won legislative approval in 2015 to search for a casino location in Greater Hartford. The "satellite" casino has been billed as a strategy to challenge the competitive threat posed by MGM in Springfield, set to open in late 2018.

But the tribes still must get final legislative approval for a site, now narrowed to Windsor Locks or East Windsor, and the legislature must formally back expansion of casino gaming off reservation lands.

Verrengia said he has not decided how he would vote, but it is crucial that the state gets the best deal.

"The towns that are in play, it may be the best business model for the tribes but it may not be the best business model for the state," Verrengia said. "That's why we need to have this conversation."

When asked Thursday if MMCT was concerned about other operators being allowed to compete for a third state casino, spokesman Andrew Doba said: "We have tremendous respect for the legislative process and look forward to discussing our project with committee members."

Allowing other operators into Connecticut could jeopardize the state's share of slot revenue that comes from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, about $200 million a year. The state's two-decades-old agreements with the tribes said that if another casino were permitted off tribal lands, the tribes would no longer be obligated to make slot payments to the state.

But there are also concerns about the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegan expanding off their reservations and how that would affect the same agreements. A preliminary ruling from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs last year said it shouldn't, but the ruling wasn't binding.

Supporters of a Hartford-area casino say it would help preserve jobs tied directly and indirectly to the state's gambling industry in addition to the slot revenue.

Doba said MMCT expects to announce its site choice "in the next few weeks."

MGM has doggedly led the opposition to the tribal joint venture being given the exclusive right to search for a site. MGM is challenging that state approval in court, now on an appeal.

MGM has said it is interested in developing a casino in Connecticut, but with southwestern Connecticut being the most promising area of the state.

The committee also expects to hear from the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation and the Golden Hill Paugussetts, who have both sought federal recognition in hopes of opening casinos.

Silver Lane Partners and its managing member, Anthony W. Ravosa Jr., will push its proposed casino site in East Hartford as the best Hartford-area location, even though it has been eliminated from contention by the tribes.

Ravosa said Thursday he will also push an idea he floated earlier in the week that would include the state getting 35 percent of the Hartford-area casino's slot revenue. The state now gets 25 percent of slot revenue at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. In addition, the state should require a 15 percent cut of table game revenue, he said, which is still lower than what is required in Massachusetts and other nearby states.

Sportech, which had proposed its off-track betting venue in Windsor Locks as a casino site but is not being considered, is also on the committee's list. Sportech is concerned about the impact of its business from a possible casino in Windsor Locks and MGM's complex just up I-91.

Thursday's meeting is at 11 a.m. in Room 2E of the Legislative Office Building.