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Club 19 in the Las Mercedes neighborhood of Caracas. 

Club 19 in the Las Mercedes neighborhood of Caracas. 

Photographer: Fabiola Ferrero for Bloomberg Markets
Markets
The Big Take

Venezuela’s Capitalist Playground Has $200,000 Ferraris and a Bustling Casino

President Nicolás Maduro, ally of the late revolutionary Hugo Chávez, lets pockets of free enterprise thrive, helping spark a still-fragile economic turnaround.

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At 10:30 p.m., gamblers are already packing the slot machines at the casino. Bartenders offer free booze, dancers swing to merengue music, and bingo players compete for a $500 prize near the poker tables. At midnight on this Friday in May, one lucky player wins a raffle for a $2,900 Yamaha motorcycle, then trades the keys for cash.