[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is a fact in question. As details from this state, out in the very remote central area of Central Asia, often is awkward to acquire, this may not be too astonishing. Whether there are 2 or three accredited gambling dens is the item at issue, maybe not in fact the most earth-shattering article of data that we do not have.

What will be true, as it is of most of the ex-Russian states, and absolutely truthful of those located in Asia, is that there certainly is a great many more not allowed and clandestine casinos. The change to acceptable wagering did not encourage all the illegal places to come away from the dark into the light. So, the battle over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at best: how many accredited casinos is the thing we are seeking to resolve here.

We understand that located in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a stunningly unique name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and one armed bandits. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Both of these offer 26 slot machine games and 11 table games, divided amongst roulette, blackjack, and poker. Given the remarkable similarity in the square footage and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan casinos, it may be even more astonishing to determine that they are at the same location. This seems most difficult to believe, so we can likely state that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the authorized ones, stops at 2 members, 1 of them having altered their title recently.

The state, in common with practically all of the ex-Soviet Union, has experienced something of a accelerated conversion to free market. The Wild East, you may say, to allude to the anarchical circumstances of the Wild West a century and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens are honestly worth going to, therefore, as a piece of social analysis, to see dollars being wagered as a form of collective one-upmanship, the conspicuous consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in 19th century u.s.a..