The debate in Kentucky has raged for years: Should a state famous for the Kentucky Derby and horse racing, a sport symbiotic with gambling, open the gates for more?

If Gov. Steve Beshear gets his way, the question could be settled in the coming days. Beshear has ordered the Kentucky General Assembly to convene a special session on Monday to consider, among other matters, legislation that would allow horse racing tracks throughout the state to operate video slot machines.

"My belief is that VLTs (video lottery terminals or video slot machines) confined to our tracks where wagering already exists is a common sense initiative that can be part of a solution for an industry that for so many people embodies what it means to say, 'I'm from Kentucky,'" the Democrat said.

Beshear's primary reason for calling the legislature back this summer was to deal with an estimated $1 billion budget shortfall. He soon added other proposals for lawmakers' consideration.

Beshear has ordered consideration of an economic development tax incentive package that, among other things, is aimed at landing a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway, attracting a Breeder's Cup championship and luring more film producers to the Bluegrass State. The governor also told lawmakers to consider long-awaited legislation intended to eventually lead to the construction of new bridges between Kentucky and Indiana.

The gambling question, however, quickly stole the spotlight. Attention on it is likely to only intensify as groups on both sides of the debate have scheduled rallies at the Capitol this week.

Beshear and gambling advocates say Kentucky's horse industry is in crisis. It needs extra money from slot machines to survive, they say.

To be sure, Kentuckians are already gambling. A lot.

Gambling on horses, a state lottery and charitable games — such as bingo and pull tabs — are already legal. Kentuckians wager about $1.75 billion on legal forms of gambling, according to the latest data, and casinos dot the state's border, making it relatively easy for residents to cross over.

Twelve other horse racing states — including Kentucky neighbors West Virginia and Indiana — allow betters to wager on video gambling machines, slot machines or other casino-style games at the track, according to the American Gaming Association's 2009 State of the States report.

Expanded gambling supporters say Beshear's plan will help Kentucky's horse industry keep up.

Beshear proposed allowing Kentucky's horse tracks to buy 10-year licenses to operate video lottery terminals to generate more money. Revenue from the slots would be divvied among purses and breeders incentives, state government and the tracks, with the track keeping the bulk of the money.

But gambling opponents, fueled largely by moral and religious objections, claim gambling's negatives won't infuse enough cash to sustain the horse industry.

Kentucky's gambling addiction help-line has averaged between 30 to 40 calls per month, said Mike Stone, executive director of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, which has no position on the bill. An estimated 40,000 Kentuckians are considered pathological gamblers at some point in their lives and about 120,000 are lifetime problem gamblers, Stone said.

The Rev. Jeffery Fugate, a pastor at Lexington's Clays Mill Road Baptist Church, said the governor's plan will only lead to more social problems. Allowing video slot machines will cause a dramatic increase in the amount of money Kentuckians wager and hurt families in the way drug and alcohol habits do, Fugate said.

"History proves the Bible to be correct that this is a moral issue. This is not a political issue," said Fugate, who is scheduled to give the invocation before Beshear addresses the General Assembly on Monday night. "I know it has become one, but it is a moral issue and certainly it is wrong."

Still, Kentucky could help its horse industry and solve its state budget woes by expanding gambling, said Russ Ray, a University of Louisville finance professor. Ray said he's studied gambling expansions throughout the U.S. and in Europe and has not found evidence of the social problems it allegedly creates.

"The problem is we are right smack in the middle of the Bible belt, and it's sort of ironic because horse racing is our signature industry and that is gambling," Ray said. "But people sort of are very pejorative toward casinos, like this is evil gambling, but horse gambling is OK. It's sort of a dual outlook."