[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan casinos is something in some dispute. As details from this nation, out in the very remote central part of Central Asia, can be arduous to receive, this may not be too bizarre. Regardless if there are two or three legal gambling halls is the item at issue, perhaps not quite the most earth-shattering bit of info that we do not have.

What will be accurate, as it is of many of the ex-USSR states, and certainly accurate of those located in Asia, is that there certainly is a good many more not legal and clandestine gambling halls. The adjustment to legalized betting didn’t drive all the illegal locations to come from the dark and become legitimate. So, the contention over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls is a minor one at most: how many authorized ones is the element we are seeking to answer here.

We understand that in Bishkek, the capital municipality, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a marvelously unique name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and slot machines. We will also see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Both of these contain 26 one armed bandits and 11 table games, divided between roulette, vingt-et-un, and poker. Given the amazing likeness in the size and setup of these 2 Kyrgyzstan casinos, it might be even more bizarre to see that both share an location. This appears most confounding, so we can likely conclude that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos, at least the approved ones, ends at 2 members, 1 of them having adjusted their name a short while ago.

The country, in common with almost all of the ex-USSR, has experienced something of a rapid conversion to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you may say, to refer to the lawless ways of the Wild West an aeon and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are actually worth going to, therefore, as a bit of anthropological analysis, to see dollars being played as a form of civil one-upmanship, the aristocratic consumption that Thorstein Veblen spoke about in 19th century u.s..