One can drive through the “horse country” of Kentucky, perhaps visit a stable for thoroughbred breeding and get a wonderful taste of a genteel and traditional way of life that has survived in the area for hundreds of years.

But there is trouble in bluegrass land and even optimists are wondering what changes the addition of gambling casinos might bring to their glamorous industry.

Promoters of Las Vegas-style gambling want voters and legislators to approve a constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos in Kentucky. They want to allow casinos at racetracks, where a portion of casino earnings would be used to bolster racing purses. This strategy has been adopted by 10 states to help the embattled horse racing industry.

The nearby Woodlands in the eastern part of Kansas City, Kan., has struggled with horse and dog track operations, and officials successfully argued to state lawmakers that the only way to prevent complete ruin was for slot machines to be added to the premises. Staffing and maintaining a racing operation is extremely costly; slot machines and their gaming derivatives take far less maintenance and upkeep, are less unpredictable than animals, jockeys and owners, and seem in many cases to pay more bills.

In Kentucky, even many horse breeders and trainers think the casino plan is vital to their survival.

“We may be the horse capital of the world, but I don’t see how we are going to survive if we don’t do something about it,” Buff Bradley, a trainer at a major park, said of the gambling initiatives.

Steve Breshear, recently elected Democratic governor of Kentucky, is eyeing casino revenues to go far beyond racetracks and generate millions for a cash-strapped state government. Opponents say funding will come from Kentuckians “gambling away their milk money” – in a state with the sixth-highest poverty rate in the nation.

Just as Kansas has had problems trying to analyze and solidify the future of casino gambling – and tends to overstate its merits at times – so is Kentucky going through a torturous period of adjustment involving its treasured horse industry.

Considering the demands of modern economic challenges, it is not likely Kentucky’s fabled “horse country” with its lush pastures and stables will remain unscathed in the gambling controversy. Where big money is involved, it will be relentlessly pursued, even at high damage to something as appealing as Bluegrass Country.