Lake of the Ozarks is a family-friendly place that also could become site of a new casino-resort, if Missouri voters approve. (Image: courtesy of Funlake.com)

A proposal to place a casino near the Lake of the Ozarks will have its fate determined by the people of Missouri, after a judge found that backers had done enough to qualify for the November ballot.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft had initially found that Osage River Gaming and Convention (ORGC) had come up 2,031 signatures short in the state’s 2^nd Congressional District, meaning the initiative hadn’t qualified for the ballot. 

Ozarks Casino Requires Constitutional Amendment 

But Judge Daniel Green of Cole County overturned that ruling on Friday. ORGC presented 2,230 valid signatures that had been rejected by Ashcroft, which Judge Green accepted, giving the group just enough to qualify for a statewide vote.

“We are grateful that the Circuit Court and all parties involved today verified that our signature-gathering effort provided more than enough signatures to qualify our amendment for placement on the November ballot,” ORGC said in a statement praising the ruling. “Today is a victory for the initiative petition process and for voters who will benefit from our proposed development at the Lake of the Ozarks.”

The group is proposing to build a casino complex on the Osage River. The plan requires a constitutional amendment, as the state currently only authorizes casinos on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The initiative would also overrise a Missouri law passed in 2008 that limits the state to a maximum of 13 licensed casinos.

ORGC submitted more than 320,000 signatures in support of putting their question on the ballot, far more than the 171,000 minimum required until Missouri law. However, that same law also requires initiative petitioners to collect signatures from at least eight percent of legal voters in two thirds of the state’s congressional districts. Missouri currently has eight districts, meaning that threshold must be hit in six of them. 

When Ashcroft verified signatures from the group, he found that they had hit their target in only five of the eight congressional districts. However, the total was close enough in the 2^nd Congressional District – an area that covers suburban St. Louis – for the group to examine the results and find signatures it felt were unfairly rejected.

Dueling Casino Proposals Targeting Regional Tourism

The proposed casino, which is backed by Bally’s and regional developer RIS, would also include a hotel and convention center and would host entertainment events. Backers say that the casino would generate $14 million in tax revenue for childhood literacy programs in the state, with another $2.1 million going to local governments.

The casino is also an attempt to compete with another local casino being developed by the Osage Nation. The tribe announced its plans to build a $60 million resort in the area in 2021, but is still waiting on both federal and state officials to grant the necessary approvals for the project to get off the ground.

Both projects will be looking to take advantage of their proximity to the Lake of the Ozarks, which is a popular vacation spot in the Midwest.