The top state official overseeing New York’s gaming industry on Tuesday said “a casino in Nassau [County, Long Island] is not a done deal,” signaling a longer than expected timeline for awarding three licenses to open Las Vegas-style gambling casinos in the downstate region.

“We are at the beginning of a process that could take much longer than what people are saying and that could go into 2024 or even 2025,” Brian O’Dwyer, chairman of the state’s Racing and Gaming commission, told Newsday Associate Editor Joye Brown in a Newsday Live webinar.

He also said that of the 10 entities that have expressed interest in bidding for a license, each proposal would be considered equally and “nobody has an advantage or a disadvantage.”