While casino expansion remains on the table in the Connecticut legislature, it’s moving ahead in Rhode Island.

Twin River Casino officials broke ground Tuesday on a $25 million expansion that will add a 135-room hotel and spa to the Lincoln, R.I., facility. The new hotel is scheduled to open in June 2018.

In addition, Twin River’s owners are building a $75 million casino in Tiverton, R.I., where a public hearing on the project was scheduled to take place Tuesday night. The development site is a few hundred feet from Rhode Island’s border with Fall River, Mass.

A Twin River spokeswoman said the Tiverton casino is on track to open in July 2018.

“We have begun clearing brush and are awaiting approval from the town to move forward with foundation construction,” said Patti Doyle, the spokeswoman.

Once the Tiverton facility is ready, Twin River will transfer the gaming license for its Newport Grand slots parlor to the new casino and shut down Newport Grand. Rhode Island voters approved the transfer in a referendum last November.

In Lincoln, union workers are building the new hotel, according to a Twin River statement.

Excell Construction Corp. of East Greenwich, R.I., is the general contractor, while A/Z Corp. of North Stonington and North Kingstown, R.I., is the construction manager.

The four-story hotel will feature a pool and fitness center, a spa, valet parking, board rooms, an outdoor patio and function space.

Twin River employs some 2,000 workers at its Lincoln and Newport facilities. Rhode Islanders make up about 80 percent of the workforce.

“Without question, our expansion here sends a powerful message that we believe the economic development emphasis exhibited by state leaders will reap dividends in the future and for that, thank you to the governor and the leadership in the House and Senate,” said John Taylor Jr., chairman of Twin River Worldwide Holdings. “We expect to create 30 additional permanent jobs once the hotel comes on line and employ 70 or so construction workers over the life of the project.”

Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said the hotel will help Twin River “distinguish itself as a full-service venue.”

Previous expansions at Twin River, formerly a slots-only facility that first introduced table games in 2013, has helped it cut into revenues at southeastern Connecticut’s casinos, particulary Foxwoods, which is closer to the Rhode Island border than Mohegan Sun.

Threatened by a $950 million resort casino under construction in Springfield, Mass., the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, respective owners of the Connecticut casinos, are jointly seeking to develop a “satellite” casino in East Windsor. Connecticut lawmakers are considering bills that would authorize casino expansion in the state.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com