The actual number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is something in question. As data from this country, out in the very remote interior area of Central Asia, tends to be awkward to receive, this may not be all that difficult to believe. Regardless if there are 2 or 3 approved gambling dens is the thing at issue, maybe not quite the most earth-shattering article of data that we do not have.
What will be true, as it is of the majority of the ex-Soviet states, and definitely correct of those located in Asia, is that there will be many more not allowed and clandestine gambling halls. The switch to acceptable gambling did not encourage all the underground places to come out of the dark into the light. So, the contention regarding the total number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a tiny one at best: how many approved gambling dens is the element we’re trying to resolve here.
We know that in Bishkek, the capital municipality, there is the Casino Las Vegas (an amazingly unique title, don’t you think?), which has both gaming tables and slot machines. We can additionally find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. The two of these have 26 slots and 11 table games, split between roulette, 21, and poker. Given the remarkable likeness in the size and setup of these 2 Kyrgyzstan gambling dens, it might be even more surprising to find that both are at the same address. This appears most difficult to believe, so we can no doubt conclude that the list of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos, at least the legal ones, ends at two casinos, 1 of them having adjusted their name a short time ago.
The country, 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 refer to the lawless conditions of the Wild West a century and a half ago.
Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are certainly worth checking out, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see cash being gambled as a form of communal one-upmanship, the absolute consumption that Thorstein Veblen wrote about in 19th century u.s..