ELLENVILLE – With the deadline falling on Wednesday, April 23 for applicants to get in line for casino licenses in the Hudson Valley and elsewhere around the state, a flurry of announcements and last minute deals appeared, while other dreamed-of casino scenarios evaporated into thin air.

At the same time real world questions about infrastructure issues started surfacing big time.

Talk about having the high stakes nature of the state's casino gambling future game come into view with a bang...

As the Ellenville-based Nevele announced that it had put up its $1 million gaming license application fee Tuesday, CEO Michael Treanor said, "Our team is committed to rebooting tourism and job growth in Ulster County and beyond, with a mission to revitalize the economy of the entire Hudson Valley region."

Treanor's words came the same day that Ulster County Executive Mike Hein held a very public meeting of a new countywide committee determined to aid the Nevele's bid, and signed a unanimous county legislative resolution backing the local casino.

So who all is in the running, as of the moment... barring any last minute applications, and million dollar fees, going in to the state's electronic bank account up in Albany as we go to press?

The Nevele-R-LLC is pushing a plan for a $450 million resort casino on the old Nevele Grand property, just south of Ellenville. This is the only application from Ulster County and has received the most local and regional support of any proposal in the state to date.

Empire Resorts, which runs the Monticello Raceway and is 79 percent Malaysian owned, has its own well-rounded and much-touted and backed plan for a $750 million resort casino, the Adelaar, to be situated on 1,500 acres or so of the old Concord resort property, outside Monticello in Sullivan County.

Concord Associates, headed by Louis Cappelli, is working with Mohegan Sun of Connecticut to build a $675 million resort casino on 160 acres, also part of the old Concord resort property.

Greenetrack, a gaming concern from Alabama, is planning a $400 million resort casino on 140 acres situated near Stewart International Airport in Orange County.

Caesar's Entertainment, working with Rochester-based developer David Flaum, is a late entrant in the race for a 120 acre parcel in the Town of Newburgh, and nothing in Mamakating as previously sought. He is also going after a casino in the City of Albany.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway, which originally planned to build a casino in Saratoga Springs, but has abandoned that bid, is now concentrating on a 70 acre property off Route 17K south of the intersection with the Thruway at Harriman, along with a project for the Capital District in a wealthy Albany suburb in Rensselaer County.

Possible regional contenders, not yet ponied up as of press time, also include Foxwoods Resort Casino of Connecticut, working with Muss Development, which has spoken of building a casino in Sullivan County, along with Tioga Downs in the Binghamton area and whatever last-minute dark horses might show up with a million dollars.

Just to recap the story so far...

Last November, a statewide ballot opened the way for New York State to license four large casinos with the usual table games and slot machines. The four will be placed in three areas of New York State, not including western or northern New York regions where Native American gaming already exists. This means that one area will receive two casinos.

The state Gaming Commission requirements for casino applicants included a strong measure of local support and resolutions to that effect from town and county governments.

On Wednesday morning, as applications were still flowing to Albany, Treanor sounded optimistic.

"I think the Orange County bids will fail on three counts. They won't be able to drum up local support, and their ability to deliver on a timely basis will be seriously questioned. Plus, the legislative intent was always to put casinos into the Catskill resort area," he said. "It should be noted, as well, that Ulster County has rallied around a single project and has worked tirelessly to position that project in a positive way. We have not said anything derogatory or critical about anyone else in this, and we won't."

Meanwhile the implications of having two casinos open in the area are sinking in. The Orange County legislature's new gaming committee has started discussing the traffic impact, with county planning commissioner David Church noting recently that Route 17 will be the primary channel for all traffic in either direction to new casinos, as most of the customers will be coming from New York City, Long Island, Westchester and the New Jersey suburban region. He said that while redesign plans for the Harriman interchange — where the Thruway, Route 17, Route 6 and Route 32 all converge — have been completed, no money has been allocated for any of the necessary work to be done. That nexus, with Woodbury Commons on the north side and the sprawling Woodbury Center shopping precinct on the south, is already a traffic magnet.

Similarly, concerns were brought up about traffic at possible locations around Albany, as well as in the Route 209 corridor, north and south of Ellenville, as well as throughout Sullivan County and in the Stewart Airport area.

What's next?

By April 30, a mandatory applicant conference will be held at Empire State Plaza in Albany, and all the applicants must attend. On May 2, a written summary of the applications will be due, and the New York State Gaming Commission's responses to the applications will be available by May 14. After that, the remaining applicants will have until June 30 to complete their applications in light of the state's responses from six weeks earlier, and an oral presentation by applicants will take place by July 21. By the fall, the gaming commission will finally determine the lucky winners... with bets that game's end will be soon enough before the November election that it won't affect anyone's campaigns.

Oh, and by the way... much of that initial $1 million ante IS retrievable. Minus the state's costs for review, of course, which amounts haven't been discussed much yet.