[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling halls is something in some dispute. As details from this country, out in the very most interior section of Central Asia, tends to be difficult to achieve, this might not be too astonishing. Whether there are 2 or 3 authorized gambling halls is the item at issue, maybe not quite the most all-important piece of information that we do not have.

What will be accurate, as it is of most of the ex-Soviet states, and definitely true of those in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a lot more not legal and bootleg market casinos. The switch to authorized gaming did not empower all the former gambling dens to come out of the dark and become legitimate. So, the contention regarding the total number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls is a tiny one at most: how many accredited ones is the element we are attempting to answer here.

We understand that in Bishkek, the capital metropolis, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a spectacularly unique title, don’t you think?), which has both table games and slot machine games. We will also see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these contain 26 video slots and 11 table games, split amongst roulette, blackjack, and poker. Given the amazing likeness in the square footage and layout of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling halls, it might be even more astonishing to see that they share an address. This appears most unlikely, so we can clearly state that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls, at least the approved ones, ends at 2 casinos, one of them having adjusted their name not long ago.

The nation, in common with many of the ex-Soviet Union, has undergone something of a accelerated adjustment to commercialism. The Wild East, you could say, to reference the chaotic circumstances of the Wild West an aeon and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are almost certainly worth visiting, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see chips being gambled as a form of social one-upmanship, the conspicuous consumption that Thorstein Veblen talked about in 19th century usa.