Germany’s 16 länder (states) have approved the latest version of the country’s federal gambling treaty, although the move only postpones the larger decisions that still have to be made.

On Thursday, the heads of the 16 states held their latest conference in Berlin, where they voted in favor of extending the current ‘toleration’ of sports betting operations until June 30, 2021. Operators will be able to apply for licenses later this year, and these stopgap permits are expected to be issued starting January 1, 2020.

However, the new treaty will need to be approved by the European Commission, which has taken a dim view of Germany’s previous efforts at liberalizing its betting market. While Germany has agreed to scrap the 2012 treaty’s controversial cap on the number of licenses, the new treaty retains its equally controversial ban on online casino products.

The northern state of Schleswig-Holstein (S-H) differed from the other länder through its issue of a couple dozen online casino licenses seven years ago. These licenses have since expired, but S-H’s governing coalition recently introduced legislation that will extend the validity of these licenses to the June 30, 2021 expiration of the current stopgap treaty, with an idea that some nationwide consensus on the casino question can be achieved by that time.