SIMFEROPOL, January 23. /TASS/. A gambling zone will start operating in Crimea in September 2019, Crimean head Sergey Aksenov told reporters on Tuesday.

"The gambling zone is to start operating [in Crimea] by September 2019," Aksenov said, answering a TASS question.

The working group "on selecting a land plot for the location of the gambling zone" that was established in late 2017 already chose a preliminary location of the future "Crimean Las Vegas," he said. "There is a land plot, provisionally <…> The working group has to provide all findings before February 1," Aksenov said.

He reported that the gambling zone has an investor that is ready to join in the project, but, considering the sanctions, the regional head did not provide its name. "There is a large operator that is ready to join in the project implementation. <…> There are some aspects, chiefly linked to the sanctions regime, so there is a need to preserve the incognito for the one that will be doing it," the Crimean head explained.

Aksenov earlier said that a Russian investor is ready to pour roughly 8 bln rubles ($ 141.3 mln) into the gambling zone in Crimea.

On July 23, 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law establishing a gambling zone on Crimea’s territory. According to experts, the regional budget will be annually receiving up to 25 bln rubles ($ 441.5 mln) from it.