Vast is a word that comes close to describing the expanse of the sprawling Foxwoods Resort Casino. But even vast comes up a bit short in describing this little city that has grown up along the borders of three rural New England towns here.

I took a self-guided tour of Foxwoods on Wednesday, trying to put the news from this week's election in Massachusetts, which gave a final green light to casino gambling there, in some perspective.

Some industry analysts have said Massachusetts players probably account for about one third of the gamblers at Foxwoods, a higher percentage, most suggest, than at nearby Mohegan Sun.

Of course, the casinos, which keep close track of their players and their habits, know quite precisely the percentage of their customers who come from Massachusetts.

One wonders if it was that insider knowledge of the number of Foxwoods gamblers from Massachusetts that was part of the reason Foxwoods' chief executive recently announced his departure.

Who could blame him for not wanting to preside over a business sinking that has the makings to be of Titanic proportions?

I applied a little license plate test this week to the question of assessing the possible scope of Massachusetts gambler flight from Foxwoods, and it wasn't very pretty.

I wouldn't say that Massachusetts license plates account for one in three plates in Foxwoods' many parking lots and garages. But it's close. I parked between two Massachusetts cars, one with a Seekonk car dealer sticker and another with a Boston parking permit. Flash forward two years, and you can be pretty sure they won't be here.

Indeed, the vast gaming halls and corridors, already looking a little underpopulated after long recession years of declining attendance and revenue, would be eerily empty if you suddenly removed one in three people.

It makes you wonder how the tribe will eventually be able to sustain the whole enormous enterprise, which is already buckling under a crushing debt burden taken on to make it so big in the first place.

The folly of the yearslong expansion strategy at Foxwoods is most evident at the newly christened Fox Tower - what was MGM at Foxwoods until MGM took back its branding, ready to install it on a new, competing Massachusetts casino in Springfield.

The Fox Tower is located well beyond the original Foxwoods complex, at the end of an endless and largely empty corridor that is so long, there are moving sidewalks, like an airport terminal without gates.

One of the cavernous Foxwoods slot halls is closed most weekdays, a dark and empty reminder of what may come. Some restaurants are closed many days.

I couldn't help but think of what may become a modern Pompeii, after the volcano of Massachusetts casino openings finally erupts.

The strategy of partnering with a retail outlet giant for a new mall at Foxwoods was probably as close to brilliance as we've seen in any of the tribal business planning in recent years.

But will it stave off what may be the inevitable?

The entire facility still looks tended, well maintained and adequately staffed. But how long will the tribe be able to sustain such a big enterprise when a large piece of the revenue rug is pulled out?

We might look to Atlantic City to plot a model of casino industry decline. But the Connecticut casinos are unique in that they are allowed to be run by sovereign tribes and can't simply be sold off to the highest bidder.

On my way into Foxwoods on Wednesday, I struck up a conversation with Ron Beaulieu, who had just driven down from his home in Hudson, New Hampshire - a trip that took him two hours and 40 minutes.

He most certainly will go instead to Steve Wynn's new Everett, Mass., casino - less than an hour's drive from home - when it opens, he said.

I also chatted Wednesday with a Massachusetts resident who made one of his regular trips to Foxwoods this week for some hands of poker.

He actually voted this week to repeal the Massachusetts casino law, because he figures it is better not to have one too close to home.

Still, he said, he will stay close to Boston when Massachusetts gets into the casino business. After that, he added, New England will begin to find the saturation point for new gambling.

"They'll find it," he said, still in good spirits after some profitable hands of Texas Hold 'Em. "Don't worry. They'll keep going until they find it."

I worry we will know here, first.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com

Twitter: @DavidCollinsct