Greece-facing online gambling operators won’t have to halt their business at the end of March, even if the country’s new licensing system won’t be ready by then.

On Wednesday, the Hellenic Gaming Commission (HGC) offered some assurance to the 24 holders of ‘temporary’ online gambling licenses that they won’t face any repercussions when those transitional licenses expire on March 31, provided they hand their paperwork in on time.

For years now, Greece has been trying to enact a new online gambling licensing regime to replace the botched system that issued those temp licenses nine years ago. Those approvals were almost immediately revoked in favor of a online betting monopoly for domestic operator OPAP, which meant a higher price when the government went looking to sell its one-third stake in OPAP.

Following a change in government, the new online licensing system was finally sent to the European Commission (EC) for approval. The standstill period is scheduled to end in April.