[ English ]

The confirmed number of Kyrgyzstan gambling halls is a fact in a little doubt. As data from this state, out in the very remote central area of Central Asia, often is difficult to receive, this might not be too difficult to believe. Whether there are two or 3 accredited casinos is the element at issue, perhaps not in fact the most earth-shaking piece of information that we don’t have.

What no doubt will be correct, as it is of the lion’s share of the old USSR states, and certainly truthful of those located in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a good many more not approved and alternative gambling dens. The change to authorized wagering didn’t encourage all the aforestated gambling dens to come from the illegal into the legal. So, the debate over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a minor one at best: how many legal ones is the item we are seeking to answer here.

We understand that in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a stunningly unique title, don’t you think?), which has both table games and slots. We will additionally see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Both of these have 26 one armed bandits and 11 gaming tables, divided between roulette, 21, and poker. Given the amazing similarity in the square footage and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan casinos, it might be even more bizarre to find that they share an address. This seems most difficult to believe, so we can clearly determine that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos, at least the accredited ones, stops at two members, one of them having changed their name a short while ago.

The nation, in common with nearly all of the ex-Soviet Union, has undergone something of a rapid adjustment to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you may say, to reference the chaotic conditions of the Wild West a century and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens are in reality worth going to, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see money being played as a form of social one-upmanship, the absolute consumption that Thorstein Veblen talked about in 19th century America.