LAKE OZARK, Mo. — Two of Lake of the Ozarks’ most well-known developers are teaming up in an attempt to bring a casino and hotel to Lake Ozark.
This week, the group of investors seeking to develop a casino on Highway 54 near the Osage River — formerly known as Osage River Gaming & Conventions but now reformed as Lake of the Ozarks Community Gaming — revealed that developer Jeff Tegethoff has joined the group as an investor and primary developer.
In a presentation to the Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen on the afternoon of Nov. 12, the group touted Tegethoff’s track-record, which includes developing over $1.4 Billion of commercial real estate since 2017, including the Oasis at Lakeport project at Lake of the Ozarks and the Preserve at Sycamore Creek apartments in Osage Beach.
Alongside Tegethoff in the venture will be Gary Prewitt, who was a primary investor from the beginning. Prewitt has developed two of the Lake’s main shopping centers — Prewitt’s Point in Osage Beach and Eagles’ Landing in Lake Ozark — as well as multiple restaurants and entertainment venues: Backwater Jack’s, LEVEL5, Shady Gators, Lazy Gators, and Denali RV Resort and Marina.
Lake of the Ozarks Community Gaming Casino Renderings - 2025
At a Board of Aldermen meeting on Nov. 12, the development group received the City of Lake Ozark’s blessing for their plans to develop a 164,000 square foot casino/hotel with 300 hotel rooms, along with a 150,000 square foot convention center and adjacent retail space. But the group's real challenge is not at the city level, it’s at the state level. They can only build a casino if Missouri voters opt to amend the state’s constitution, which currently only allows for gambling on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
In 2024, some of these same investors used the Citizen Initiative Petition process to place a proposed constitutional amendment on the general election ballot (Amendment 5). The group proposed to add the Osage River to that constitutional stipulation about casinos (as well as earmarking a state gaming license for the Osage River), but the measure failed by a vote of 52.5% NO to 47.5% YES.
However, the group — now re-formed with a new investor (Tegethoff) and without a commitment to any casino operator — says they’re optimistic about their chances of changing the constitution in 2026. Andy Prewitt, one of the investors (nephew of Gary Prewitt), says in light of Lake Ozark and Miller County’s resolutions in support of the casino, they hope to submit their proposed constitutional amendment to the Missouri Secretary of State next week.
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