PROVIDENCE — State Sen. Frank A. Ciccone is calling for a legislative inquiry into the state’s role in choosing managers for the bankrupt Twin River, and potential awarding of the gambling license — worth hundreds of millions of dollars — to new owners without a competitive and public vetting process.

Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, suggested the commission consider whether the bankruptcy filing constituted a breach that would allow the state to terminate Twin River’s “master contract” to operate more than 4,750 video-slot machines placed there by the state Lottery.

He said the commission could then look at “the possible options of the state, in the event that the license is revoked, to reissue the license in accordance with a bidding process, or to a better location in the state, or on more desirable terms,” and, in the interim, “the right of the state to approve or disapprove the next owner or manager.”

Senate Majority Leader Daniel P. Connors appeared cool to the idea. He said the legislature already has a Lottery oversight commission that could delve into some of these questions, but one of the New York lawyers hired by the Carcieri administration to represent the state’s interests in the bankruptcy case advised him the chances of voiding the contract are slim.

Soon after, however, Sen. Maryellen Goodwin, the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Constitutional and Regulatory Issues, called a meeting of her committee for next Tuesday to review the “terms and conditions” of Twin River’s “master contract” with the state, and the Department of Business Regulation’s “licensing procedures and general regulations regarding gambling, gaming, athletics and racing.”

“Is the contract still valid? Is it null and void?” mused Ciccone, who believes the latter.

Ciccone, a top-rank official in the Laborers International Union affiliate that represents state court employees, tried without success to force the owners of the Lincoln track and slot parlor to drop their plans to suspend dog racing in August. The governor vetoed the legislation.

Twin River is currently owned by a subsidiary of BLB Investors, a holding company made up of the principals in Kerzner International, Starwood Capital Group and Waterford Group LLC. Ciccone listed the following concerns:

“BLB was awarded a long-term contract by the state and lobbied against a full-scale casino in the 2006 casino referendum, only to announce afterward that it was teaming up with a Massachusetts Indian tribe to build a full-scale casino in Massachusetts that would compete against Rhode Island.

“While BLB was pursuing a casino in Massachusetts, it shut down restaurants and other amenities in Lincoln and filed for bankruptcy in breach of its long-term contract with the state.

“Most recently ... Warner Gaming — who I presume the bondholders and Governor Carcieri [had] chosen to manage [the former] Lincoln Park — announced in the Boston Globe in late October that it is planning to build a casino in Milford, Massachusetts, because it is, and I quote, an ‘ideal location’ and will capture traffic which heads to ‘Rhode Island gaming facilities today.”

William H. Warner withdrew his application for a license to run Twin River, amid escalating controversy over his resort-casino plan for Milford — about 20 miles north of Twin River.

“I am worried about the State of Rhode Island and our ability to control this license,” Ciccone said. “This license is an asset of the state and should revert to the state. It does not permanently belong to bondholders, BLB or Warner Gaming; it belongs to the state and should only be issued to a company that has the history, brand recognition, management and marketing experience to help Rhode Island compete in this increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Once a standalone state agency run by a board made up of lawmakers and gubernatorial appointees, the state Lottery is currently a division of the Department of Revenue. The Carcieri administration had no comment on Ciccone’s proposal.

kgregg@projo.com