JEFFERSON CITY — A Cole County judge signed off on an agreement Friday to place a question on the Nov. 5 ballot asking Missouri voters if they want a new casino at the Lake of the Ozarks.
In a minuteslong hearing, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green finding that the developers of the proposed gambling facility had collected enough signatures to place the referendum on the ballot.
“That should conclude the case,†Green said.
The decision came after Osage River Gaming and Convention had filed a lawsuit to reverse a decision by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft that the signature collection effort had fallen short.
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In order to get on the ballot, the group was required to collect signatures from 8% of the registered voters in each of two-thirds of the state’s eight congressional districts. Ashcroft said they fell short by 2,031 signatures in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers suburban ºüÀêÊÓƵ.
In the Cole County lawsuit, the group said it has identified more than 2,500 valid signatures of legal voters whose signatures had been rejected when they should have been counted.
Attorney Charles Hatfield, representing the casino backers, acknowledged that collecting signatures from voters can be a “massive and messy process†but said in the end, there were enough to get the measure before voters.
The Secretary of State’s office did not contest the end result.
Casino giant Bally’s and Eldon-based real estate developer Gary Prewitt have bankrolled the effort to build Missouri’s 14th casino on a site on the Osage River below the Bagnell Dam, which created the popular boating and recreation destination in mid-Missouri.
A change in the state constitution is necessary to get the project underway because the state’s current fleet of 13 casinos are limited to sites along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
In a statement, the developers said they were grateful for the quick turnaround in the legal case.
“Today is a victory for the initiative petition process for voters who will benefit from our proposed development at the Lake of the Ozarks,†Osage River Gaming said in a statement.
The project, if approved, is expected to create 500 construction jobs and more than 700 permanent jobs. Tax revenue from bettors would be earmarked for early-childhood literacy programs in public schools.
The project comes as the Osage Nation continues to wait for approval from state and federal officials to build a tribal casino in the lake area, which is a popular Midwest vacation spot.
In 2021, the Oklahoma-based tribe announced it had submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Interior for approval of a casino near the town of Lake Ozark.
If the tribal application is approved, the Department of Interior would transfer the casino land into federal trust with tribal sovereignty to the land and casino gaming rights that are exempt from Missouri laws and regulations.
Under its plan, the tribe is attempting to reestablish and expand upon its cultural presence and ancestral ties to the region. In addition to a casino, plans include a convention hotel, an entertainment complex and a tribal office.