The Osage Nation seems to have discovered a web site for its proposed on line casino in Lake Ozark, Mo. Based on Lake Information On-line.
The Osage Nation’s homeland as soon as encompassed virtually all of modern-day Missouri, together with the Lake of the Ozarks, pictured. (Picture: World Atlas)
The tribe is in search of a request for proposals to demolish a vacant motel on the intersection of Osage Seashore Parkway and Bagnell Dam Boulevard in Miller County. A public discover appeared to that impact in The Eldon Advertiser final month.
In October, the Nation introduced its intention to construct the favored vacationer area’s first on line casino however declined to say the place. It stated it could commit round $60 million in direction of the undertaking, which is described as a “new leisure district.”
The on line casino could be “one of the substantial financial growth initiatives for the area in years,” the Nation stated in a press launch.
The Nation relies in Oklahoma, the place it owns and operates seven casinos. Nevertheless, its historic lands as soon as encompassed most of what’s now Missouri.
No Tribal Casinos in Missouri
Missouri solely permits riverboat casinos on the Missouri or Mississippi rivers, or inside 1,000 toes of their shorelines. The Lake of the Ozarks is on the Osage River. However the Nation will apply to the federal authorities to have the land for the proposed on line casino taken into belief.
This course of partially removes the land from the jurisdiction of the state, changing it into tribal land. In flip, this makes on line casino gaming legally doable underneath the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Nevertheless, the process can take years to play out.
A federally authorised tribal gaming facility doesn’t want a state license and doesn’t pay native taxes, supplied related gaming is already authorised within the state. However the tribe would wish to attract up a compact with Missouri if it wished to supply Class III on line casino gaming, and this would come with a revenue-share settlement.
There are at present no Native American reservations in Missouri and no tribal casinos.
Sharks Circling Lake
However the Osage Nation isn’t alone in pondering a Lake of the Ozarks on line casino is a brilliant concept. A gaggle of Lake space traders have fashioned a committee known as Osage River Gaming (ORG), which is devoted to bringing business gaming to the world.
ORG helped spearhead laws, launched in 2019 by State Rep. Rocky Miller (R-Lake), that might have modified the state structure to permit gaming alongside the Osage River. The invoice was pulled when the pandemic struck, together with all non-essential laws, and Miller’s tenure resulted in 2020.
If ORG fails to resurrect the invoice, it plans to prepare a signature-gathering marketing campaign to put the measure immediately on the poll.
ORG claims {that a} business on line casino would generate extra money for the native space than a tribal on line casino.
