Osage River Archives - Missourinet

Missouri lawmaker: a casino would do well along the Osage River, if it’s done right

February 24, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

A proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize a riverboat casino near the Lake of the Ozarks could be heading to the Missouri House floor soon, after being approved by two committees.

State Rep. Rocky Miller, R-Lake Ozark, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 17, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The proposal from State Rep. Rocky Miller, R-Lake Ozark, would authorize a boat on the Osage River, between the Bagnell Dam and the Missouri River.

“All (the bill) it really does is put out to a vote of the people adding the Osage River to the possibility of getting a license, if one becomes available in the future,” Miller says.

Currently, riverboat gambling in Missouri is only allowed along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The Missouri Gaming Commission regulates casino gambling.

Missouri’s 13 riverboat casino licenses are all currently taken. It’s capped at 13 as a result of Proposition A, which was approved by voters in 2008. Proposition A also repealed loss limits and increased the casino gambling tax from 20 to 21 percent.

Miller has filed House Joint Resolution 87, which is a proposed constitutional amendment. He tells Missourinet that a casino would do well along the Osage River, if it’s done right.

“It has to be where it’s a benefit to the community and to the state,” says Miller. “And the way to ensure that is to make sure it goes through the legislative process, and that’s what we’re doing here today,” he said during a recent Statehouse interview.

Miller’s proposal was approved by the House Special Committee on Government Oversight on a 3-2 vote. It was approved by the Rules Committee on a 6-1 vote.

Missouri voters could decide if they want riverboat gambling along Osage River

January 9, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri voters could weigh in at the ballot box about whether to have a riverboat casino along the Osage River. State Representative Rocky Miller, R- Lake Ozark, is proposing a change to the Constitution that would allow people to place their bets along the Osage River. Current law allows riverboat gambling along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

Rep. Rocky Miller (R-Lake Ozark)

Miller says he’s had this idea on his mind for quite some time.

“When the first riverboat gambling came out in the 90s, I thought ‘Well gosh, why isn’t the Osage River part of the Missouri and Mississippi riverboat gaming license?’ I have no idea why it wasn’t, but I thought we really should be,” he says.

Miller has his eye on the Lake of the Ozarks in mid Missouri.

“I’ve never thought that Lake of the Ozarks is really really a family-friendly destination. There are things that families can do and I love having them there,” he says. “There are great things you can do there – there’s water parks, there’s skee ball. But honestly, compared to Branson, we’ve always been an adult entertainment area.”

Miller says the Netflix show Ozark did not inspire his decision to file the bill, but he says the measure has been referred to as “The Ozark bill”. During the latest season of the hit show, a riverboat casino set sail along the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri.

Miller tells Missourinet he does not want to expand gambling.

“I think that right now, we just need to right the wrong. I truly would like to see a casino in Lake of the Ozarks, but I think the problems that we have, if we open those flood gates up, we’d have every casino fighting and I think we would end up getting nothing done. This is just a pragmatic, sort of level-headed way of doing it. Let’s add the Osage River. In the future, if a license becomes available, then we’re there to make a pitch for it,” says Miller.

The State Gaming Commission has already licensed 13 casinos – the maximum allowed in Missouri. If passed by the Legislature and people, the measure would let a potential riverboat casino pursue a license along the Osage, if one becomes available.

Miller says he’s “doing battle” against initiative petitions he’s heard might come along to expand gambling.

“This is so that we could kind of head that off at the pass and actually have input,” he says. “Only some rich guy that does the initiative petition and gets the signatures has input into how that’s read. I don’t. You don’t,” he says. “Through the process that we’re going through with my bill, you’re going to have public hearings. You’re going to have input. There’s probably going to be some changes to it.”

As for the economic impact of gambling on the Lake of the Ozarks?

“Cape Girardeau had a benefit of $55 million additional taxes and 726 new jobs,” Miller says. “I don’t know what the magnitude greater Lake of the Ozarks would be but you’ve got to think it would be a much greater magnitude.”

Century Casino operates boats in Cape Girardeau and nearby Caruthersville.

The legislation is HJR 87.

Missouri legislator wants riverboat gambling along Lake of the Ozarks

January 7, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Rep. Rocky Miller (R-Lake Ozark)

State Representative Rocky Miller wants to allow riverboat gambling along the Lake of the Ozarks in mid Missouri. The Republican from Lake Ozark is proposing to let Missouri voters decide whether to change the Constitution to include the Osage River on the short list of waterways where casinos are allowed.

Current law allows riverboat gambling on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers only and the licensing of 13 casinos. The State Gaming Commission, which decides about casino licensing, has already licensed 13 Missouri casinos. Even if the Legislature and voters pass the measure, HJR 87, a riverboat casino along the Lake of the Ozarks might not set sail for a while.

Miller prefiled the bill on Friday. Opening day of the next legislative session is Wednesday.