[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan casinos is a fact in a little doubt. As information from this nation, out in the very remote central section of Central Asia, can be hard to acquire, this may not be all that bizarre. Regardless if there are 2 or 3 authorized gambling halls is the element at issue, perhaps not really the most all-important bit of data that we do not have.

What no doubt will be correct, as it is of most of the ex-USSR nations, and absolutely correct of those located in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a good many more not approved and clandestine gambling halls. The adjustment to acceptable gambling did not empower all the underground gambling dens to come out of the dark and become legitimate. So, the contention over the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens is a tiny one at best: how many approved gambling halls is the item we’re seeking to reconcile here.

We are aware that located in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a remarkably original name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and slot machine games. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The pair of these contain 26 slot machine games and 11 gaming tables, separated amongst roulette, blackjack, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the square footage and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more astonishing to see that both share an address. This seems most difficult to believe, so we can perhaps conclude that the list of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the approved ones, is limited to two casinos, one of them having adjusted their title a short time ago.

The state, in common with the majority of the ex-Soviet Union, has undergone something of a accelerated conversion to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you may say, to allude to the chaotic circumstances of the Wild West a century and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are in reality worth visiting, therefore, as a piece of anthropological research, to see dollars being bet as a type of communal one-upmanship, the conspicuous consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in 19th century u.s.a..