Judge Rules in Favor of Lake of the Ozarks Casino Ballot Proposal

A Cole County, Missouri judge on Friday ruled in favor of a proposal to allow voters to decide on the fate of a Lake of the Ozarks casino. 

The proposal will allow the casino, if approved on the November ballot, to be licensed to the Osage Nation on the Osage River. 

Missouri state law prescribes a maximum of 13 licensed casinos inside state lines, each of which must reside along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. That number may be increased to 14 depending on how the votes fall in a few months.

Fixing a decision

The ballot initiative was originally thrown out due to it allegedly falling 2,031 signatures in the 2nd Congressional District short of the necessary amount. The judge disagreed with the ruling and said that six of the eight districts reached the proper count, which was enough for the initiative to advance.

The Osage River and Gaming Convention appealed the decision after it was initially ruled a failure. They alleged that more than 2,500 valid signatures were discounted, leading to the proposal missing the mark by 2,031 verified autographs.

“Verifying every signature on multiple initiative petitions this summer has been a very long process for election officials, and we realize mistakes happen,” the group said in a statement. “However, ORGC has always been confident their initiative petition contained a sufficient number of valid signatures from legal voters to qualify for placement on the November 5, 2024, general election ballot and are now asking the Court to do so.”

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s office later found that the proposal actually had achieved the required amount of signatures, according to a settlement filed on Thursday. 

With that correction, the proposal was ruled to have reached the signature threshold in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th districts—enough to move forward to the ballot.

More possible changes

The proposal will be titled “Amendment 5” on the Nov. 5 ballot. It is being primarily supported by Bally’s which also operates a Kansas City, Missouri casino, and development company RIS Inc. Both entities contributed roughly $2.15 million to the petition drive. 

The planned casino would create more than 700 jobs along the lake and would create an estimated $14.3 million in yearly tax revenue.

Also on the ballot will be Amendment 2, which deals with legalizing sports betting, Amendment 3, which outlines protections for reproductive rights, and Proposition A, which would increase the minimum wage.

Two constitutional amendments proposed by the General Assembly will also reach the ballot. Amendment 6 would grant courts the right to enforce retirement benefits payments for sheriffs and prosecutors, and Amendment 7 would outlaw ranked-choice voting.

The Lake of the Ozarks is the primary tourist hub in Missouri. Former Lake Ozark mayor Gerry Murawski said the landmark annually attracted an average of 5.4 million tourists and more than 10 million in 2020 thanks to the popularity of the Netflix show Ozark.