Amendment 5 on the Missouri ballot would allow developers to build a casino business near the Lake of the Ozarks, “on the Osage River from the Missouri River to the Bagnell Dam.” We recommend a yes vote on Amendment 5.
Voters may wonder why this issue is on a ballot. A developer who wants to build a new hotel, or shopping center, typically doesn’t need statewide permission, and certainly not an amended state constitution. Riverboat gambling is, of course, different. In 2008, at the behest of operating boats that feared competition, voters amended the state constitution to cap the number of river-adjacent gambling platforms. Currently, there are 13 gaming boats in Missouri.
