[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling halls is something in some dispute. As details from this state, out in the very remote central section of Central Asia, can be hard to receive, this might not be too surprising. Whether there are two or 3 accredited casinos is the thing at issue, perhaps not quite the most earth-shaking piece of data that we do not have.

What will be correct, as it is of most of the old USSR nations, and absolutely true of those located in Asia, is that there will be a lot more illegal and clandestine casinos. The change to legalized wagering did not energize all the former gambling dens to come away from the illegal into the legal. So, the debate over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at most: how many legal gambling halls is the thing we’re attempting to resolve here.

We are aware that located in Bishkek, the capital municipality, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a marvelously original name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and slots. We can also see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these contain 26 slot machines and 11 table games, split amongst roulette, chemin de fer, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the sq.ft. and floor plan of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling halls, it might be even more surprising to find that the casinos share an location. This appears most strange, so we can perhaps conclude that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the authorized ones, stops at 2 casinos, 1 of them having adjusted their title a short time ago.

The nation, in common with practically all of the ex-Soviet Union, has experienced something of a rapid change to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you may say, to refer to the anarchical ways of the Wild West an aeon and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens are certainly worth going to, therefore, as a piece of anthropological research, to see dollars being played as a type of collective one-upmanship, the aristocratic consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in 19th century u.s.a..