Greg Olson is a terrific historian from Columbia who has a deep interest in the 12,000-year history of the people who were here long before the Europeans showed up for commercial, more than religious, purposes to exploit, conquer, and subjugate them.  His newest book is a voluminous report on Indigenous Missourians; Ancient Societies to the Present. He presented part of his research in the July, 2021 issue of the Missouri Historical Review, the quarterly publication of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

He points out something few of us realize. When what is now Missouri became American Territory with the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, the United States did not really get very much. He wrote, “When Missouri was admitted into the Union in 1821, only three Indigenous nations, the Sacs, Foxes, and Osages, had ceded rights to any property inside the state. In all, it would take thirty-four years of negotiating twenty-two treaties with thirteen different Native nations before the United States finally established clear title to all the land inside Missouri in 1837.”

Remember that figure: thirteen different Native nations.

That’s where a possible threat to our thirteen commercial casinos could lie.

In October, 2021, the Osage Nation announced plans for a $60 million casino/hotel complex on 28 acres of land at the Lake of the Ozarks on land it claimed as ancestral lands, part of the territory covered by the Treaty of Fort Clark. An application was sent to the U. S. Department of the Interior for approval under the U. S. Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The Osage Nation asked to transfer the land into a federal trust with tribal sovereignty rights granted, clearing the way for a casino that will be exempt from Missouri laws and regulations.

The defeat of Amendment 5 has no impact on the proposed Osage casino except that it eliminated competition from a commercial casino.

Editor Shannon Shaw Duty wrote in Osage Nation newspaper in September, 2021 that Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear already was looking for a second, similar piece of land to buy for construction of another Osage Nation tribal casinos. “Tell the people of the United States that this is our homeland, this is our legally recognized homeland. There are treaties in place that we did not fully agree with that drove us out of there and we want to claim those properties,” he said.

The American Gaming Association says the United States has 352 land-based casinos, 266 tribal  casinos, 66 boats and 50 racinos. Fourteen states have only tribal casinos. The states with the most tribal casinos are Oklahoma (140), Arizona (85), Minnesota (40), and Washington (35).

Although tribal casinos are not regulated by the states, they cannot operate without an agreement, or compact, with each state. Oklahoma has compacts with 35 tribes. Its model compact is at Microsoft Word – Model Compact.doc (ok.gov).

A summary of Arizona’s 24 compacts can be found at KNXV-TV, Phoenix’s website: https://www.ok.gov/OGC/documents/Model%20Compact.pdf

Minnesota’s compacts are at: Gambling – Tribal State Gaming Compacts (mn.gov) Washington’s compacts are at: Tribal gaming compacts and amendments | Washington State Gambling Commission.

Missouri’s commercial casino industry and other tribes likely are all paying attention to the fate of the Osage Casino at the Lake of the Ozarks. Given Missouri’s history of First Peoples occupation and the lengthy period of treaty-making with thirteen nations, it would not be surprising that success at the Lake of the Ozarks could trigger a push by other Native American Nations to build tribal casinos throughout Missouri in areas not tied to the Missouri and the Mississippi Rivers, a constitutional limit on the commercial casino industry.

Such developments, of course, would provide unwelcome competition to the existing casinos and could provoke significant developments in lesser-populated areas or other parts of Missouri untouched by commercial casino gambling. The situation is fertile for speculation.

Tribal casinos in the vicinities of Highways 36 and 61 would threaten the state’s smallest casino at Lagrange. A tribal casino at 36 and 63 would serve a large, unserved, part of north Missouri and would draw some business away from LaGrange and Boonville—which already might have lost southern constituents to the casino at the Lake of the Ozarks—and one at 36 and I35 would threaten the casino at St. Joseph. A casino at Highways 60 and I55 would threaten casinos at Cape Girardeau and at Caruthersville.

Only Kentucky and Tennessee of our surrounding states do not have Indian casinos. Iowa has four; Nebraska five; Kansas seven; Arkansas 2. Oklahoma has 143 Indian casinos operated by 33 tribes. The casino industry is considered the second-largest industry in the state. Revenues generated at Oklahoma Indian casinos is second only the revenues generated by Indian casinos in California.

How Native American Tribal casino gambling would mesh with cultural/religious concerns and regional economic needs could become a long-term storyline.

All that we have written in these two entries is entirely speculation.  But casino gambling is changing in numerous ways and the people of Missouri and those we send to the general assembly need to be aware that they will be asked to take actions of some kind—and those in the decision-making roles should understand where their responsibilities lie.

Amendment 2 might be just the start.