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Anyone waiting breathlessly for the city of Hartford to save itself by pitching a new casino plan in time for the Oct. 15 Mohegan-Mashantucket Pequot deadline can exhale.

The city "at this point doesn't expect to submit a response to this latest request for proposals," Mayor Luke Bronin said.

It's not that hizzoner hates the idea. He just doesn't think it's worthwhile for the city to pick a site, recruit a developer, fine-tune a plan, create glossy ads and generally cheer-lead for a gambling emporium that might or might not be a good idea.

If MMCT, the tribes' joint partnership, or some other developer wants to push a plan for for the capital city, he's all ears.

"They're sophisticated enough to figure out where they want to be," Bronin said Wednesday, after a gathering of mayors and economic development people from the "Knowledge Corridor" of central Connecticut and western Massachusetts.

"Hartford has discussed a number of potential sites" with representatives of the tribes, he said, declining to name the locations.

Some might say Bronin's lack of enthusiasm could cost the city revenues it desperately needs. But after nearly two years of this Hartford area casino venture — a blatant effort to undermine our sister city to the north — Bronin is right.

Amid a lot of questions, it seems clear this isn't any kind of economic panacea, though it might do more good than harm. And whatever we can say about the wisdom of it, the whole process of quickly developing a casino in northern Connecticut is now officially a joke.

The idea surfaced in March, 2015, as a bill in the state legislature authorizing the two tribes to jointly open as many as three new casinos. By amazing coincidence, that was the same month when MGM Springfield started construction of its then-$800 million, now $950 million plan.

These smaller, nimbler, commercial casinos — not on tribal land — would fight competition in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, saving jobs and generating tax revenue for the state.

Time was our friend. A Hartford area casino would open ahead of MGM Springfield, perhaps as soon as late 2016, certainly by 2017, when MGM was scheduled to open late in the year.

Sadly, reality kicked in, as often happens. The General Assembly passed a watered down bill allowing the tribes to come back to the legislature and propose one casino in the Hartford area.

It turns out that granting a license to the existing tribes without opening up the process to outside bidders such as MGM is entering a legal and political battlefield. The next round of arguments is scheduled for Nov. 28 at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, in a case brought by MGM.

And it turns out that picking a viable site that both tribes like, in a town that wants it, takes way more than a year.

So here we are, 19 months later. The MGM Springfield plan is now scheduled to open in late 2018 but there is little chance of a new casino in Connecticut before then.

MMCT has precisely one publicly completed plan in hand — at the long vacant Showcase Cinemas in East Hartford. Clearly, the tribes don't like that one or they wouldn't have reopened the bidding.

Thankfully, the idea of opening a casino at Bradley International Airport seems dead. It would be hard to imagine a dumber idea than that one because the whole point of an airport is to move people in and out with as little congestion as possible.

Hartford remains in the running, with a non-specific proposal for something in the North Meadows. The previous mayor submitted that "plan" as a placeholder last year. Windsor Locks also remains in the running, with a few rough concepts. Other towns might come forward, and of course, developer Anthony Ravosa and Mayor Marcia LeClerc are not giving up in East Hartford.

But with MGM's prodding, some legislators say we should focus on the Bridgeport area, where we can capture New Yorkers. "The place to put it that would be in the best interests of the state would be in the southwest part of the state," said Alan Feldman, executive vice president of MGM Resorts.

Would a Hartford area casino with about 2,000 slot machines do its job of saving jobs and generating state tax revenues? Yes, but not without other economic costs.

"If there's any doubt about whether our idea is going to be successful, MGM's actions are speaking volumes," said Andrew Doba, spokesman for MMCT.

MGM doesn't deny the Connecticut plan could affect Springfield, but Feldman said everyone can succeed. "That hasn't been what's been motivating us," he said. "Our view is that it's long past time that the legislature opens Connecticut to commercial casino development."

The high-stakes game is to expand gambling fairly, legally and in a way that preserves as much as possible of Connecticut's 25 percent share of slot machine revenues, an amount that's shrinking but still totals a much-needed $200 million a year. That will take new negotiations with the tribes.

The irony of a border battle was clear in New Britain Wednesday as Bronin, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and the mayors of New Haven, New Britain and Chicopee anchored a high-minded conference on cooperation in the Knowledge Corridor. The Hartford area casino plan didn't come up and Sarno wouldn't talk about it afterward.

As long as we've missed the rush to build ahead of MGM, the General Assembly should be in no rush to approve a new casino without looking at the whole picture.