Foxwoods Resort Casino and its former chief executive officer are aligned with separate partnerships seeking to compete for the sole commercial casino license to be awarded in southeastern Massachusetts.

Foxwoods - in effect, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which owns the Connecticut gaming property - would operate a casino that New York-based KG Urban Enterprises hopes to develop in New Bedford, while Scott Butera, who stepped down late last year as Foxwoods' president and chief executive officer, is connected with Crossroads Massachusetts LLC, a partner in a proposed Somerset project.

Both partnerships have asked the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to grant them more time to complete their applications.

The commission is expected to consider the requests when it meets today in Boston.

In a letter dated Tuesday, an attorney for Crossroads Massachusetts LLC and Somerset Development LLC, partners in the Somerset project, formally requested a 21-day extension "to identify additional equity contributors."

Last Friday, KG Urban and the City of New Bedford jointly requested an additional 45 days for KG Urban to submit a "substantially complete" application, a process that includes lining up investors.

A third entity vying for the southeastern Massachusetts license, Mass Gaming & Entertainment, whose partners include Rush Street Gaming of Chicago, met an earlier deadline for filing applications. The partnership has proposed a casino in Brockton.

Butera, who led the Mashantuckets' efforts to restructure more than $2.2 billion in debt, left Foxwoods to become commissioner of the Arena Football League. At the time, with the Mashantuckets having defaulted on the terms of the 2013 restructuring plan, Butera was to continue advising the tribe on financial matters.

Butera had also spearheaded Foxwoods' efforts to land a license for a casino project in Milford, Mass., a town in the Greater Boston region. Milford voters rejected the plan in a November 2013 referendum. The gaming commission has so far awarded licenses for casinos in Springfield and Everett.

Neither Butera nor Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket tribal chairman, responded to messages seeking comment about their efforts in southeastern Massachusetts.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck