Summary:
- Osage River Gaming and Conventions plans a fresh effort to amend Missouri’s constitution for a casino on the Osage River.
- The 2024 ballot proposal narrowly failed, with strong opposition in Lake of the Ozarks counties.
- Investors aim to collect signatures after Lake Ozark city council approval and hope to dedicate tax revenue to local programs.
Lake Ozark may soon be in the running for a second casino, as the Osage Indians and a private investment group plan a fresh attempt to bring gambling to the Osage River.
The group, known as Osage River Gaming and Conventions (ORGC), is revisiting its efforts to amend the Missouri Constitution after voters narrowly rejected a similar proposal in 2024.
That measure, known as Amendment 5, would have allowed a casino downstream of Bagnell Dam and allocated one new gaming license to the Osage River site.
Statewide, the vote was 52.5% against and 47.5% in favor. Support was strongest in urban areas like Kansas City and St. Louis, while rural counties, including those at the Lake of the Ozarks, largely opposed it.
Andy Prewitt, one of ORGC’s investors, told LakeExpo,
Yes, we are getting the band back together. We secured Miller County’s support on Monday [Nov. 3] and are on the Lake Ozark agenda for next Wednesday’s city council meeting [Nov. 12]. If that goes well, we hope to be collecting signatures before the end of the month.
Tim Hand, another member of the group, stressed that setbacks are part of the process.
Just about every major initiative ever passed required more than one try at the ballot box. That’s just Missouri politics
Different Amendment
The proposed new amendment will likely differ from last year’s version. Prewitt indicated that once the Lake Ozark city council gives its approval, he will begin drafting new ballot language to submit to the Missouri Secretary of State for review.
The 2024 vote showed strong opposition in the counties surrounding the proposed site. In Miller County, where the casino would be built, 59.4% voted against the amendment. Camden and Morgan counties also rejected it, with 57% and 53.7% voting no, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest support came from Jackson County (53.5%), Clay County (54.8%), and Kansas City (57.2%).
Adding to the challenge, a separate legislative proposal called Initiative Petition Reform could raise the threshold for amending the state constitution, making it even more difficult for ORGC to succeed after 2026.
About the Author
