Casino Vote for Lake of the Ozarks Takes Another Step Forward

An effort to bring a locally owned and operated casino to Lake of the Ozarks takes another step to officially being put on the November ballot for voters statewide to approve or shoot down.

Tuesday was the deadline for all 114 counties in Missouri to submit petitions with verified signatures to get the measure on the ballot.

In Miller County alone, that consisted of the county clerk’s office verifying 800 pages of signatures before sending them weeks ago to the Secretary of State’s Office for final verification.

Representatives for the Osage Gaming group, several months ago, confirmed to KRMS News that the 173,000 required signatures from around the state was apparently not a problem.

A similar effort to approve an Osage Nation casino hit a wall when the city shot down support of that venture based on what Lake Ozark Mayor Dennis Newberry says was not having a clear plan of the overall project.

It’s unknown how long it’ll take the Secretary  of State’s Office to officially verify the signatures and approve the voter referendum. If ultimately approved, the addition of a casino license to the state Constitution would be voted on November 5th.