LAKE OF THE OZARKS, Mo. — Efforts to put the question of a Lake of the Ozarks casino before Missouri voters in November are paying off, according to the investor group behind the push.
Since casinos are — per Missouri's Constitution — only allowed on (or near) the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, it would take a change to the Missouri Constitution to allow one on the Osage River, just downstream of Lake of the Ozarks. And the investor group Osage River Gaming & Convention (ORGC) has been working to get enough Missourians' signatures to put the question on the November ballot.
Spokespersons for Osage River Gaming & Convention, the group of investors that hopes to bring a casino and hotel/conference center to Lake Ozark, say they have until May 5 to get enough signatures, and at the current rate, they expect the question to make it onto the ballot.
"We are pleased with the progress of our signature gathering. Our internal metrics have us on track to collect more than enough signatures to turn in on May 5th and we anticipate being on the November 2024 ballot," the group said in a statement issued to Lake Expo on Monday, March 18.
More About The Ballot Question & Petition
The ballot question would ask Missourians whether they would like to change the state constitution to allow a casino on the Osage River, to add an additional (14th) gaming license to the current number of 13 set by state statute, and to earmark state tax revenues from that casino for teachers’ salaries.
ORGC says their polling — along with polling conducted nationally by Bally’s, the gaming corporation with whom they hope to partner on a casino — indicates the amendment will easily pass. The plan gained the City of Lake Ozark’s blessing in December, and immediately afterward, the group went to work on the CIP.
Andy Prewitt, a member of the ORGC investor group, explained the petition needs about 173,000 verified signatures to clear the CIP process; they’re aiming to gather more than 200,000, to be safe.
A Timeline: From Zero To Jackpot
Until 1984, every type of gambling in Missouri was off the table. (That’s not to say it didn’t happen anyways: read our story about Lake of the Ozarks’ first casino — long before casinos were legal — here.)
Here’s a timeline of how and when Missouri went from zero casinos to more than a dozen…
More Coverage
A Lake Of The Ozarks Casino... Or Two? Lake Expo's Exclusive Coverage
LakeExpo's editorial team has covered the proposals of both the private-investor casino and the Osage Nation casino since 2020. Here's a complete library of the dozens of articles we've written in the past few years...
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When you have a good thing going everyone seems to want a piece of the pie. Such seems to be the case with the Lake’s booming economy and the …
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