[ English ]

The complete number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is a fact in a little doubt. As information from this nation, out in the very most interior section of Central Asia, tends to be hard to achieve, this might not be all that bizarre. Whether there are two or three approved casinos is the thing at issue, maybe not in fact the most earth-shaking slice of info that we don’t have.

What certainly is accurate, as it is of many of the ex-Soviet nations, and certainly correct of those located in Asia, is that there certainly is a lot more illegal and bootleg market casinos. The change to authorized gambling didn’t drive all the former gambling halls to come from the dark and become legitimate. So, the clash over the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls is a small one at best: how many approved ones is the element we are trying to reconcile here.

We know that located in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a stunningly original title, 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 have 26 slots and 11 gaming tables, split amongst roulette, chemin de fer, and poker. Given the amazing likeness in the square footage and layout of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more bizarre to determine that the casinos are at the same address. This appears most bewildering, so we can clearly state that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the approved ones, ends at 2 members, 1 of them having altered their name a short while ago.

The state, in common with nearly all of the ex-USSR, has experienced something of a rapid change to free market. The Wild East, you could say, to refer to the chaotic circumstances of the Wild West an aeon and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls are certainly worth going to, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see money being wagered as a type of communal one-upmanship, the celebrated consumption that Thorstein Veblen spoke about in 19th century America.