The confirmed number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is something in a little doubt. As info from this nation, out in the very remote interior part of Central Asia, tends to be difficult to get, this may not be too surprising. Whether there are 2 or three approved casinos is the element at issue, perhaps not in reality the most earth-shaking bit of data that we do not have.
What will be accurate, as it is of many of the old USSR states, and certainly true of those in Asia, is that there certainly is a good many more not approved and clandestine casinos. The switch to acceptable betting did not energize all the illegal casinos to come away from the dark into the light. So, the controversy over the total amount of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens is a minor one at best: how many accredited gambling halls is the thing we are attempting to answer here.
We are aware that in Bishkek, the capital city, there is the Casino Las Vegas (a spectacularly unique name, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and one armed bandits. We will also see both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these have 26 one armed bandits and 11 gaming tables, separated amidst roulette, 21, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the square footage and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan gambling halls, it may be even more surprising to see that they share an location. This appears most difficult to believe, so we can clearly state that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls, at least the authorized ones, is limited to 2 members, one of them having altered their name not long ago.
The state, in common with many of the ex-Soviet Union, has undergone something of a fast change to free-enterprise system. The Wild East, you may say, to refer to the chaotic conditions of the Wild West an aeon and a half back.
Kyrgyzstan’s gambling halls are actually worth visiting, therefore, as a bit of social research, to see dollars being gambled as a form of collective one-upmanship, the absolute consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in nineteeth century usa.