[ English ]

The actual number of Kyrgyzstan casinos is something in a little doubt. As info from this nation, out in the very remote central part of Central Asia, tends to be arduous to acquire, this might not be all that bizarre. Whether there are 2 or 3 approved casinos is the thing at issue, perhaps not in fact the most consequential piece of information that we do not have.

What will be true, as it is of the majority of the old USSR states, and certainly correct of those located in Asia, is that there will be a great many more illegal and bootleg market casinos. The change to approved wagering did not encourage all the underground places to come away from the dark into the light. So, the battle over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at best: how many legal ones is the element we’re attempting to resolve here.

We understand that located in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a marvelously unique title, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and one armed bandits. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these contain 26 one armed bandits and 11 gaming tables, split between roulette, vingt-et-un, and poker. Given the amazing similarity in the size and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it may be even more surprising to find that both are at the same address. This seems most confounding, so we can clearly conclude that the list of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls, at least the approved ones, is limited to 2 casinos, 1 of them having altered their title not long ago.

The state, in common with almost all of the ex-USSR, has experienced something of a accelerated change to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you may say, to reference the anarchical conditions of the Wild West an aeon and a half ago.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are almost certainly worth going to, therefore, as a piece of anthropological analysis, to see money being bet as a type of social one-upmanship, the apparent consumption that Thorstein Veblen talked about in 19th century usa.