The complete number of Kyrgyzstan gambling dens is a fact in question. As information from this state, out in the very remote interior section of Central Asia, tends to be hard to get, this might not be too difficult to believe. Whether there are two or three authorized casinos is the item at issue, perhaps not quite the most earth-shattering article of information that we do not have.

What certainly is credible, as it is of most of the ex-USSR nations, and definitely correct of those located in Asia, is that there no doubt will be a good many more not approved and backdoor casinos. The switch to authorized wagering did not drive all the illegal gambling dens to come from the dark and become legitimate. So, the battle over the total number of Kyrgyzstan’s casinos is a minor one at best: how many accredited gambling dens is the item we’re attempting to reconcile 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 slot machines. We will additionally find both the Casino Bishkek and the Xanadu Casino. Both of these offer 26 video slots and 11 table games, divided between roulette, blackjack, and poker. Given the amazing similarity in the size and setup of these two Kyrgyzstan casinos, it might be even more surprising to see that the casinos share an address. This seems most bewildering, so we can perhaps state that the number of Kyrgyzstan’s gambling dens, at least the authorized ones, is limited to two casinos, one of them having altered their name not long ago.

The state, in common with most of the ex-USSR, has undergone something of a accelerated conversion to capitalistic system. The Wild East, you could say, to refer to the chaotic ways of the Wild West a century and a half back.

Kyrgyzstan’s casinos are honestly worth going to, therefore, as a bit of anthropological research, to see money being gambled as a form of social one-upmanship, the apparent consumption that Thorstein Veblen talked about in 19th century u.s..