SCHENECTADY — The cargo truck leaving Yonkers Raceway at 6 a.m. Thursday was loaded with three customized trunks full of documents and 40 bankers’ boxes of materials, 8,000 pages total, to arrive at the New York State Gaming Commission bright and early.

A dispatch from Coney Island was even more massive — 60,000 pages packed in 23 boxes in an SUV, arriving at a commission loading dock just before 4 p.m. Thursday.

If anyone had taken notice on the New York State Thruway on Thursday or Friday, they might have passed or been passed by a parade carrying casino dreams and promises, driven by eight bidding groups trying to beat the 4 p.m. Friday deadline for applying for three available downstate casino licenses.

The field of competitors once was larger but had whittled down to eight by the deadline. There are two proposals located in Queens, one in Brooklyn, three in Manhattan, one in the Bronx and one in Yonkers. A would-be bid in Nassau County was among those fizzling in the homestretch.

It took a lot of heavy lifting — physically and electronically — officially apply.

The Gaming Commission set up a FTP, or file transfer protocol, to handle the extremely large electronic submissions. But bidders also had to submit hard copies to the commission’s headquarters in Schenectady.

Cue the trucks, vans and SUVs.

With their submissions, each bidder also promised to do the most for the state in various key areas of how the "facility location board," set up to score applications, will view the proposals: most tax revenue for the state, fastest and easiest to launch, housing and job impact, most transformative for the host community and other factors.

"Far and away the most important piece of this (bid) the (board) will consider is the positive impact a project will have on economic and business development. No other project comes close to what The Coney can do for Coney Island," Dan Boren, board chairman of Global Gaming Solutions and commerce secretary of the Chickasaw Nation, said about his group’s Coney Island project.

Robert DiSalvio, president of Genting Americas East, said his group’s proposal to expand the Resorts World racino at Aqueduct Race Track would "provide new career opportunities and tax revenue almost immediately, as soon as July 2026."

MGM said its proposal to put a full casino at Yonkers Raceway would create a "cultural and economic force for generations to come." Cohen/Hard Rock said their plan would create New York's "first true stadium district."

The actual awarding of the three licenses wont’ happen till December. And while the state sifts through the reams of materials, the next major step for each applicant is to get a local "community advisory committee" to vote in favor of the project. That has to be done by Sept. 30.

Here's a snapshot of the bidders:

The partners include Thor Equities, Saratoga Casino Holdings and the Chickasaw Nation. They are promising a casino and a 500-room hotel, 20 restaurants and 92,000-square feet of convention/meetings space. Dubbed "The Coney," it would be located across from the Coney Island/Stillwell Avenue subway station.

The partners include Soloviev Group and Mohegan, the gaming company based in Connecticut. They propose a 5-acre park with a casino, two hotels and 1,000+ housing units, including at least qualifying as affordable housing. Called "Freedom Plaza," it would be located on the East Side between 38th and 41st streets.

The partners include Mets owner Steve Cohen and Seminole Hard Rock Entertainment. They are proposing a casino, a 2,300-room hotel and what it calls an $8 billion entertainment venue with a concert venue, athletic fields and park space. Called "Metropolitan Park," it would be located at a converted Citi Field parking lot.

Genting, a giant gambling company, already owns a "racino" (video slots and other games) at the Aqueduct Race Track and is proposing to dramatically expand it to a full-scale casino with a 1,600-room hotel, convention/meeting space, a new arena and housing units built at the old racetrack. Because its gaming operation has been in existence, it is 1 of 2 bidders who promise it can have a casino up and running relatively quickly.

The partners include Larry Silverstein (World Trade Center developer), Rush Street Gaming and Greenwood Gaming, with Hyatt signing on as the hotelier. It would include a casino, a 1,000-room hotel, restaurants and bars, a conference/meeting space, a community art gallery and a "boutique" entertainment venue. The main entrance to the skyscraper casino would be at 41st Street and 11th Avenue.

The partners include developer SL Green, Caesars Palace and Roc Nation (headed by "Jay-Z"). It includes a casino, a 950-room hotel and restaurants. It sizes up as one of the smallest proposals in physical space, but that’s also part of its pitch: Fitting into a busy commercial space could be the most lucrative for generating revenue. Would be located at 1515 Broadway.

Bally’s, a gaming and entertainment company, wants to add a casino to Ferry Point Park, where it already owns Bally’s Links at Ferry Point, a golf course. Besides the casino, the project would include a 500-room hotel, conference space and an events center and retail shops. If Bally’s wins a license, it would have to pay the Trump Organization, which formerly owned the golf course, $115 million.

MGM Resorts already operates the Empire City Casino (a "racino" that features video slot machines) at the Yonkers Raceway (harness racing). It would greatly expand the existing gaming area into a full casino, add a 5,000-person entertainment venue and an array of restaurants/bars. Because its gaming operation has been in existence and it has made extensive community investments, it is 1 of 2 bidders who promise it can have a casino up and running relatively quickly.