The sooner the Mashantucket and Mohegan tribes, operating under their MMCT Venture partnership, can settle on a proposed third casino north plan and present it to the legislature, the better the political prospects of gaining the necessary political support for the idea.

Both delaying tactics and legal challenges confront the plans to allow the two tribal entities to open a third casino in the greater Harford area. The intent is to keep casino goers from that heavily populated region from taking their business to the planned MGM casino in Springfield, Mass., set to open in 2018.

Last session the Connecticut General Assembly authorized the Mashantucket and Mohegan tribes, operators of the Foxwoods Resort and Mohegan Sun casinos on their reservations in southeastern Connecticut, to form their joint venture and prepare a proposal for a third casino.

Potential developers have proposed several possible locations and the tribes announced earlier this month that they expect to soon narrow the number of municipalities under consideration. Further negotiations will lead to a specific proposal, according to the plans.

So far, so good, but tribal leaders also said it is possible MMCT Venture will not get a proposal to lawmakers during the 2016 session.

Such a delay could prove to be a big mistake. A proposal under discussion this session would seek to slow the process with a study to consider “the costs and benefits of establishing commercial gaming.” This appears to be an attempt to buy time to propose an additional or alternative casino in southwestern Connecticut.

Any feet dragging by MMCT Venture will only play into that strategy and erode support for the current plan. The better play is to present a specific proposal to the legislature in time for action during the current session, putting lawmakers in the position of choosing between protecting jobs in Connecticut or serving their own parochial interests.

A detailed report has already examined the “cost and benefits.” Clyde Barrow, a political scientist who analyzes the gaming industry, concluded that a north central Connecticut casino would generate nearly 2,900 full- and part-time casino jobs by 2019 and indirectly support an additional 1,400 jobs. That would recapture 46 percent of the total jobs imperiled by the out-of-state casinos, particularly MGM Resorts planned in Springfield. Barrow released his report in April.

While hardly enamored with the thought of a third casino, this newspaper recognizes that gaming operations are major employers for the state, due to both the workers the casinos directly employ and the jobs found at the hundreds of contractors who service these massive operations. If Connecticut does nothing, the added gaming competition from other states will result in 9,300 job losses here, Barrow calculated.

Even with a jointly operated tribal casino in the north central section of the state, jobs will be lost at the southeastern Connecticut casinos. However, keeping the tribal entities stronger in the face of increased competition would at least mitigate the local job losses.

Once a site is selected, the legislature would still have to pass and the governor sign into law a bill authorizing an off-reservation casino. State and tribal officials would have to agree to amend the state’s compact with the two tribes that gives them exclusive power to operate casinos on their reservations in return for sending 25 percent of slot revenues to the state.

The third-casino plan will also face legal challenges. MGM has already cried foul, contending the MMCT Venture is receiving an unfair advantage in violation of constitutional protections of free commerce and equal treatment. Attorney General George Jepsen has moved to dismiss that lawsuit, but the legal fight will drag on regardless. This is even more reason to see action sooner than later on a specific plan and the legal particulars supporting it.

Let lawmakers from southwestern Connecticut make a proposal for a casino there, but don’t let it delay the progress of the Mashantucket/Mohegan effort that is already well underway.