[ English ]

The complete number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is something in some dispute. As details from this country, out in the very most central part of Central Asia, tends to be difficult to achieve, this may not be too surprising. Whether there are two or three approved casinos is the thing at issue, maybe not really the most earth-shaking bit of info that we do not have.

What will be credible, as it is of many of the old Soviet states, and certainly truthful of those located in Asia, is that there will be a great many more not legal and bootleg market gambling dens. The change to approved betting didn’t energize all the underground places to come away from the dark into the light. So, the battle regarding the number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at best: how many authorized ones is the thing we are seeking to answer here.

We know that in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (an amazingly unique title, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and video slots. We can also see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Each of these offer 26 slot machine games and 11 table games, split amongst roulette, 21, and poker. Given the amazing similarity in the sq.ft. and layout of these 2 Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it may be even more bizarre to find that the casinos are at the same location. This appears most strange, so we can likely determine that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls, at least the approved ones, ends at 2 members, one of them having changed their title just a while ago.

The state, in common with almost all of the ex-Soviet Union, has experienced something of a accelerated change to free-enterprise economy. The Wild East, you could say, to reference the lawless circumstances of the Wild West an aeon and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are certainly worth visiting, therefore, as a piece of social research, to see chips being wagered as a type of civil one-upmanship, the aristocratic consumption that Thorstein Veblen spoke about in 19th century u.s..