The complete number of Kyrgyzstan casinos is something in some dispute. As data from this nation, out in the very remote central area of Central Asia, often is arduous to achieve, this might not be all that difficult to believe. Whether there are 2 or 3 legal gambling dens is the element at issue, maybe not really the most earth-shattering piece of info that we don’t have.
What certainly is correct, as it is of the majority of the old Soviet states, and certainly true of those in Asia, is that there no doubt will be many more illegal and bootleg market gambling dens. The switch to legalized wagering didn’t drive all the underground casinos to come out of the dark and become legitimate. So, the bickering over the total number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a small one at most: how many approved ones is the thing we are seeking to resolve here.
We are aware that in Bishkek, the capital municipality, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a spectacularly unique name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and slots. We can also find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Each of these contain 26 video slots and 11 table games, split amidst roulette, 21, and poker. Given the remarkable similarity in the size and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more surprising to find that both share an address. This seems most unlikely, so we can no doubt conclude that the list of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the accredited ones, stops at 2 members, 1 of them having adjusted their name not long ago.
The country, in common with almost all of the ex-Soviet Union, has experienced something of a rapid adjustment to free-enterprise economy. The Wild East, you could say, to reference the lawless ways of the Wild West a century and a half back.
Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls are certainly worth visiting, therefore, as a piece of social analysis, to see cash being wagered as a form of communal one-upmanship, the apparent consumption that Thorstein Veblen spoke about in 19th century u.s.a..