Voters of Missouri will decide if they want to legalize riverboat casinos on the Osage River. Currently, riverboat gambling operations are only allowed on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, but that could be changing soon if a Missouri House bill to change the state’s constitution passes.

A bill was proposed in late January by state representative Rocky Miller (R-Lake Ozark), who offered an amended version of the House Joint Resolution Bill 87. This version removed the Lake of the Ozarks from the resolution.

While supporting the bill, Miller seemed a bit lackluster in his support for the legislation. “Why in the world would I do this? I didn’t come up here to do this,” he explained. “I literally don’t know if I really care about this.”

He pointed out that the legislation does not actually change or add gaming on the Osage River, but pointed out that it gives voters the opportunity to weigh in on the subject. “If we don’t do this, we’re going to have an initiative petition — we’re probably going to have one anyway — but in this case, we have the ability to actually move on it,” he stated. “If we don’t have this piece in place — if we don’t have the Osage River added to this change in the Constitution, of course we know we can’t change the Constitution.”