Posts Tagged ‘Kazakhstan’
Games around the World
July 11, 2011 | 
Author Games has been enjoyed in different cultures for hundreds of years. Different gambling games originated in different countries and became synonymous with different cultures. Over time these games spread around the world, mostly taken to new countries by immigrants. Today, gambling has become completely international, particularly with the advent of online gambling and people from all over the world enjoy gambling games that they never had access to before.
Games in China
Chinese history is full of gambling and in fact, some of the modern gambling games that we have today originated in Ancient China. Keno, a game that is now enjoyed around the world, is thought to have originated in Ancient China. Today, gambling is illegal in China.
Games in Macau
While Macau is on the southeastern end of China, the gambling laws there could not be more different. Gambling has been legal in Macau since the 1800s and it is a thriving business.
Games in Europe
Many of our modern gambling games originated in Europe. Dice games, card games and horse racing are among some of the games that we enjoy today that originated in Europe at some time or another. Casinos have existed for a long time on European soil and Monte Carlo has a reputation of being a favorite casino destination. Many online casinos today are based in Europe with a focus on the European market.
Games in America
America has a long and colorful history of gambling dating back to around the 1700s. Gambling and lotteries grew around the US until they were almost entirely banned in the early 20th century. Bingo became legal around the time of the Great Depression and in 1931 most forms of gambling were made legal in Nevada. Gambling slowly became legal in more and more states. New laws were passed in 2006 that have made gambling complicated in the United States – gambling itself has not been outlawed, however making transactions to gambling institutions is.
Internet Games
Internet gambling has allowed for a real upsurge of gambling around the world. Now players who enjoyed a little bit of gambling here and there can play any time it suits them from the comfort of their own homes. More and more games are available and it is easy to enjoy games that have originated from across the world. With gambling being shown live on television and popular International gambling tournaments being broadcast live, the popularity of gambling is on the rise.
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Kazakhstan Casinos
Landlocked Kazakhstan has remained a mystery to the western traveler for centuries, unknown save from the pages of Marco Polo or Kipling. Few outsiders have experienced the charms of this central Asian country, other than the merchants who plied the Silk Road. Yet since Kazakhstan gained its independence in 1991 and especially under the farsighted and benevolent presidency of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country has flourished.
As the nation flourishes, so do Kazakhstan casinos. Flushed with oil money, it’s boom time in the gambling establishments of this former soviet republic. There are seven cities that have within them legal casino facilities of which there are exactly twenty-eight such places. Indeed if you are hungry for a bet, the tables are the only game in town, as Kazakhstan casinos are the only gambling operations permitted there.
Most notable to the dedicated gambler must be the former capital and largest city in the country, Almaty, that veritable Las Vegas of central Asia, boasting no less than 18 casinos and counting. With a soaring nine percent growth per year, the Kazakh economy has expanded enormously in the last ten years and with it the Kazakh appetite for the gaming tables.
The cosmopolitan, multiethnic, multinational city of Almaty is unrecognizable from its previous existence as the principal city of a grey Soviet satellite state. New wealth has brought glamor and excitement to the place, a fact best embodied by the city’s largest casino, Casino Viva.
One of a chain, this fabulous Kazakhstan casino hotel can claim twenty-six games tables and ninety-three slot machines. What’s more, the craze for Internet poker has not gone unnoticed in Kazakhstan casinos with the innovation of video poker fast becoming a favorite. Outside of Almaty, the intrepid gambler is also served; for example, the capital Astana has five casinos, chief amongst them being one of the Casino Zodiak chain that enjoys no less than twenty card tables.
If that is not enough for any man, casinos are also to be found further afield in the cities of Aktobe, Kokshetau, Pavlodar, Shimkent, and Ust-kamenogorsk. It is clear, however, that the Kazakh fondness for the green baize and clink of chips is not sated, since the vice-foreign minister recently visited Macao and Hong Kong. The visit was reported to be a “short but fruitful” trip designed to study the gambling industries of these towns and encourage interest in Kazakhstan’s nascent casino business.
In fact, a possible direct air link has been touted between Almaty and Hong Kong or Macao, which should bolster enthusiasm for this once exotic place soon set to become the choice of the in-crowd.