[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is something in a little doubt. As information from this nation, out in the very remote central area of Central Asia, can be awkward to receive, this may not be too bizarre. Whether there are 2 or 3 legal gambling halls is the thing at issue, maybe not really the most earth-shaking article of information that we don’t have.

What certainly is true, as it is of many of the ex-Russian states, and certainly true of those located in Asia, is that there certainly is many more not legal and underground casinos. The adjustment to legalized wagering didn’t energize all the illegal places to come out of the dark and become legitimate. So, the controversy regarding the total number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens is a minor one at best: how many accredited ones is the thing we are seeking to resolve here.

We know that located in Bishkek, the capital municipality, there is the Casino Las Vegas (an amazingly unique title, don’t you think?), which has both table games and slot machines. We can additionally find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Each of these contain 26 video slots and 11 gaming tables, separated amidst roulette, 21, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the square footage and layout of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more surprising to find that both are at the same address. This seems most difficult to believe, so we can no doubt determine that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the approved ones, is limited to 2 members, one of them having changed their title recently.

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 ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are in fact worth visiting, therefore, as a bit of anthropological analysis, to see dollars being bet as a form of collective one-upmanship, the celebrated consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in nineteeth century usa.