No Lake Of The Ozarks Casino: Missouri Voters Reject Constitutional Amendment 5

Missourians said "No" to a constitutional amendment that would have allowed a casino to be built at Lake of the Ozarks, on Tuesday.

With 3243 of 3572 Precincts reporting on Tuesday night, the total was 48% Yes to 52% No on the amendment.

A "yes" result would have amended the constitution to allow a casino to be built on/near the Osage River, by adding an additional casino license to the number of currently existing gaming licenses (and thus fixing the number of licenses within the constitution, rather than in state statute) and earmarking one license for an Osage River casino. A group of investors have already announced their plans to build a casino in Lake Ozark if this amendment passed. The group had partnered with gaming corporation Bally's and recently released renderings of the planned casino and hotel complex.

That group had tried to get the proposed amendment on the ballot through the legislature, in multiple legislative sessions, to no avail. So this year, the investor group spent millions to get the issue on the ballot. A spokesperson for the group had previously told LakeExpo the polling was very strong in favor of the amendment, and supporters expected it would easily pass.