"First thing I'll tell you is we have not lost our sense," he said. "It's a very complicated bankruptcy and we have spent a very considerable amount of time examining the situation. We have boots on the ground that for months now have been very carefully evaluating costs and the status of the building--what it will take to secure it, what it will take to finish it."

Analyst Bill Lerner of Union Gaming Group has estimated it would take approximately $2 billion to buy out the existing project debt at a steep discount and finish construction. The existing project debt is approximately $1.5 billion and the estimated cost to complete the project is also $1.5 billion, according to multiple reports. Carlino didn't dispute that figure when it was brought up again by an analyst on the conference call. Penn National has made an offer--reportedly less than $300 million--to the debtors and several key creditor constituencies to provide a 'debtor in possession' loan and serve as the stalking horse in an auction of the project.

"Despite the impressive scale of that building, our view is its value is little to nothing because the cost to complete [the project] is at the edge of its value in our judgment," Carlino said. "And around that we have a very, very, very disciplined sense of what we will accept and what we will not, and so it kind of goes our way or it doesn't. It's as simple as that. We chase nothing, we'll stretch for nothing and this process will play out or it won't."