Landlocked Kazakhstan has prolonged to be a mystery to the western traveler for centuries, unknown from the pages of Marco Polo or Kipling. A handful of outsiders have experienced the appeal of this central Asian country, besides the merchandisers who plied the Silk Road. However, considering that Kazakhstan achieved its independence in 1991 and especially under the ingenious and unselfish presidency of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country has flourished. As the nation thrives, so do Kazakhstan casinos. Flushed with oil dollars, it’s boom time in the playing corporations of this long ago soviet republic. There are seven cities that have amidst them legal casino provisions of which there are precisely twenty-eight such venues. Actually if you are aspiring for a stake, the tables are the only game in town, as Kazakhstan casinos are the only gaming operations enabled there.
Most crucial to the dedicated gamer should be the long-time capital as well as the exorbitant city in the area, Almaty, that veritable Las Vegas of central Asia, showing off not less than 18 casinos and counting. With an elevating 9 percent increase annually, the Kazakh economy has expanded immensely in the last ten years and with it the Kazakh appetite for the gaming tables. The cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic, multinational city of Almaty is invisible from its preceding period as the chief city of a grey Soviet satellite state. New wealth has brought glamor in addition exhilaration to the place, a fact best embodied by the city’s grandest casino, Casino Viva. One of a chain, this awesome Kazakhstan casino hotel can display twenty-six games tables and ninety three slot machines.
What’s more, the frenzy for on-line poker hasn’t gone disregarded in Kazakhstan casinos with the development of video poker hastily becoming a crowd pleaser. Outside of Almaty, the adventurous bettor is also served; for instance, the capital Astana has five casinos, the ace one amongst them being one of the Casino Zodiak chain that maintains no less than twenty card tables. If that is not actually enough for gamers, casinos are also located further afield in the cities of Aktobe, Kokshetau, Pavlodar, Shimkent, also Ust-kamenogorsk. It is obvious, anyway, that the Kazakh favoritism for the green baize and clink of chips is not stated, given that the vice-foreign minister a short while ago went to Macao and Hong Kong. The visit was announced to be a "short but fruitful" trip designed to study the betting businesses of these towns and arouse preference in Kazakhstan’s nascent casino industry. Indeed, a plausible direct air link has been credited between Almaty and Hong Kong or Macao, which might bolster willingness for this once charismatic location soon set to become the choice of the right people.