[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling halls is a fact in a little doubt. As information from this state, out in the very remote central area of Central Asia, tends to be arduous to receive, this may not be too surprising. Regardless if there are 2 or 3 legal gambling halls is the element at issue, perhaps not in reality the most consequential bit of information that we don’t have.

What certainly is correct, as it is of many of the ex-Russian states, and definitely true of those located in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a great many more not legal and clandestine gambling dens. The adjustment to approved gambling did not encourage all the illegal locations to come away from the dark into the light. So, the battle regarding the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at best: how many approved gambling dens is the thing we are trying to reconcile here.

We are aware that in Bishkek, the capital metropolis, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a spectacularly unique name, don’t you think?), which has both table games and slot machines. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Each of these contain 26 one armed bandits and 11 gaming tables, split amongst roulette, 21, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the sq.ft. and layout of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more surprising to find that both share an address. This seems most strange, so we can perhaps determine that the list of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls, at least the authorized ones, is limited to two members, one of them having adjusted their title a short while ago.

The country, in common with most of the ex-USSR, has experienced something of a fast adjustment to free-enterprise economy. The Wild East, you might say, to reference the chaotic conditions of the Wild West an aeon and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens are certainly worth visiting, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see chips being bet as a form of social one-upmanship, the apparent consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in 19th century usa.