SCHENECTADY – On Thursday, February 6 The New York State Gaming Commission announced the names of the first three members of a selection committee that is charged with choosing the operators of New York’s full-scale casinos and their sites. The appointees are former state Budget Director Paul Francis, Hofstra University President Stuart Rabinowitz and former New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. Phase I of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s gaming plan calls for four full-scale casinos to be located in three regions — two in the Catskills-Hudson Valley, one in the Capital Region and one in the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes Region. The selection panel may eventually have up to five members. However, only three are needed for a quorum.