Lancaster Township folks are connecting the dots about the mini-casino to be built within 15 miles of Hickory Township in neighboring Lawrence County.

Like the rest of us, they weren’t paying much attention back when dot No. 1 popped up sometime before November 2017, a 28-word clause tucked away inside a 939-page state Senate bill to expand casino gambling in Pennsylvania.

“A category 4 slot machine license may not be located in a sixth-class county which is contiguous to a county that hosts a category 2 licensed facility,” said the phrasing, tucked halfway into the 939-page bill.

We didn’t see how that legislation would carve up the remainder of the state between the 12 established casinos — not only to expand the territories they’d already claimed but to protect themselves from regional competition, too.

Those 28 words effectively disqualified Pike and Wayne counties in northeastern Pennsylvania from ever hosting a casino. That’s a big deal in particular for Mt. Airy Resort, one of Pennsylvania’s 12 existing casinos, because it grants a virtual monopoly to Mt. Airy at the confluence of Interstates 80, 380, and 84 and gamblers driving there.

Hmm. Interesting, but it didn’t have anything to do with Western Pennsylvania — not before No. 2.

Dot No. 2 appeared in February with Mt. Airy’s $21 million bid for the right to build a mini-casino within 15 miles of a point east of New Castle.

Two weeks later, the state gaming commission rejected a competitor’s $9.9 million bid for a site in Mercer County, saying the site encroached on Mt. Airy’s claim.

Mt. Airy selected is site with pinpoint precision, and for good reason. With a harness track in Erie County to the north and the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh to the south, there will be no future expansion of gambling on Pennsylvania’s western border. Mt. Airy commands the confluence of highways centered on the junction of I-80 and I-79.

Consider the fact that for many years Lawrence County had worked to host a casino and horse track. “Lawrence Downs” would have been west of New Castle if developers hadn’t failed to put together the millions in financing they needed.

Mt. Airy could have selected that same site, but it didn’t. Instead it named Hickory, east of New Castle, as the epicenter of its 15-mile radius. The reason: Hickory is within 15 miles of Interstate 79’s junctions of I-80 and Route 422. Mt. Airy could not have successfully blocked the rival bid for a Mercer County site as it did in February. However, its selection of Hickory gave it an exclusive lock on the I-80/I-79/Route 422 junctions.

With a 15-mile construction leeway, Mt. Airy has sewn up exclusive access to the Interstate 80 corridor’s western entrance into Pennsylvania, to go along with its virtual grip on the eastern entrance to I-80. It’s a significant segment of the gaming revenue being generated in Pennsylvania.

Do you see the picture emerging? Now, when we pull up a map and see which municipalities besides Lancaster did not opt out of consideration as mini-casino hosts, the picture becomes even clearer.

It’s not only Lancaster Township in play, There’s Muddy Creek and Slippery Rock townships in Butler County, plus a sprinkling of eligible townships in Mercer County — all clustered near these primary highway interchanges.

Have Mt. Airy representatives begun quietly courting officials and individuals from these municipalities, identifying primary and back-up sites for its western resort? Let’s put it this way: If you had already paid $21 million for the rights, wouldn’t you be making inroads by now?

Besides, the comments of a couple of Lancaster officials, anticipating a move forward with the application process, insinuate that discussions might already have taken place.

Only they know whether or not this is true. And it’s not for us to say whether or not that’s proper. But they should remember in any ongoing or future discussions whom they are elected to represent, and that their community is more than a matter of dollars and cents, and transient traffic passing through on superhighways.

The constituents can see pictures of the future, too.