[ English ]

The conclusive number of Kyrgyzstan casinos is a fact in some dispute. As data from this country, out in the very most interior section of Central Asia, tends to be difficult to acquire, this might not be too surprising. Whether there are 2 or 3 legal casinos is the element at issue, perhaps not quite the most all-important article of information that we do not have.

What will be correct, as it is of most of the ex-USSR states, and definitely correct of those located in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a lot more not approved and underground casinos. The switch to approved betting didn’t drive all the illegal gambling halls to come from the dark into the light. So, the clash regarding the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens is a tiny one at most: how many approved ones is the element we’re seeking to resolve here.

We know that located in Bishkek, the capital metropolis, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a spectacularly unique name, don’t you think?), which has both table games and video slots. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these contain 26 slot machines and 11 table games, separated amongst roulette, blackjack, and poker. Given the amazing similarity in the sq.ft. and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it may be even more astonishing to determine that both are at the same address. This appears most strange, so we can no doubt conclude that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos, at least the accredited ones, stops at 2 members, 1 of them having altered their title not long ago.

The country, in common with many of the ex-Soviet Union, has experienced something of a fast change to free-enterprise system. The Wild East, you might say, to refer to the lawless circumstances of the Wild West an aeon and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens are certainly worth going to, therefore, as a bit of anthropological analysis, to see dollars being wagered as a type of social one-upmanship, the aristocratic consumption that Thorstein Veblen talked about in nineteeth century usa.