Hartford — A legal opinion that former Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen slipped into the third-casino debate won’t go away.

It re-emerged Tuesday as a likely sticking point in a state legislative committee’s consideration of a bill that would enable the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to proceed with their East Windsor casino project without gaining federal approval of their amended gaming agreements with the state.

That approval, in the case of the Mashantuckets’ amendment, has not been forthcoming.

Following a meeting in which the tribes’ respective chairmen, Rodney Butler and Kevin Brown, addressed the Public Safety and Security Committee, Rep. Joe Verrengia, the West Hartford Democrat who co-chairs the panel, said he’s unwilling to risk the gaming revenue the tribes share with the state.

Jepsen repeatedly identified that risk, most recently during the last legislative session.

The tribes’ payments to the state — in exchange for the exclusive right to operate casino gaming — have exceeded $270 million in each of the last two fiscal years.

Sen. Tony Hwang, a Fairfield Republican, asked the tribal chairmen if they’d seek a new opinion from Jepsen’s successor, Attorney General William Tong.

Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket chairman, said the legislature should seek such an opinion if it thinks it is necessary.

“I have requested that very opinion,” Verrengia said. “It’s already in motion.”

He said he had asked the speaker of the House, Joe Aresimowicz, a Berlin Democrat, to seek an opinion from the office of Tong, who took office this month.

Sen. Cathy Osten, the Sprague Democrat who introduced the bill eliminating the need for federal approval, pushed for prompt approval of the measure, which she said would enable the tribes to start construction in East Windsor “within a month.” She said the bill “negates” the political “interference” the tribes believe has tainted the U.S. Department of the Interior’s action — or inaction — on the gaming amendments.

Amid the delay, MGM Resorts International, the Las Vegas-based casino operator, has opened a nearly $1 billion resort casino in Springfield, Mass., where it has had an impact on business at the tribes’ existing casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. The proposed East Windsor facility, to be called Tribal Winds, is meant to limit that impact.

The tribal chairmen said Tribal Winds could be open in 18 to 24 months after construction begins and would provide the state with an additional $75 million annually in gaming revenue payments.

Kevin Brown, the Mohegan chairman, said the tribes already have sunk $15 million into the East Windsor project, much of it in acquiring the casino site off Exit 45 of Interstate 91 and demolishing the abandoned Showcase Cinemas building that stood there. The tribes expect to spend between $250 million and $300 million on the project.

“We’re ready to go when you are,” Brown told the committee.

The tribes have long maintained that federal approval of their gaming amendments is unnecessary, a view Interior officials shared, the tribal chairmen said, up until “heavy lobbying” by MGM Resorts changed things.

While the tribes have secured all local approvals for the East Windsor project, it was revealed that owners of property near the casino site have filed a lawsuit against the town and the tribes over the issuance of zoning approvals. The tribal chairmen said the suit is not expected to hamper the project.

Verrengia limited Tuesday’s discussion to the status of the East Windsor project, though the public safety committee will be taking up a number of other gaming-related matters during the current legislative session, including the legalization of sports betting.

A bill referred to the committee this week calls for the creation of the Connecticut Gaming Commission and establishment of a competitive bidding process for a resort casino license.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com