Japan’s long-awaited casino legislation has finally made some forward progress, despite opposition parties’ obstructionist tactics.

On Friday, a committee in the Diet’s Lower House approved the Integrated Resorts (IR) Implementation Bill, which seeks to formalize how Japan’s casino operations will be regulated. Japan amended its constitution to permit casino gambling way back in 2016 but crafting the nuts and bolts of regulation is taking longer than most observers anticipated.

The Japan Times reported that Friday’s vote was preceded by a symbolic show of defiance from opposition lawmakers, who swarmed around committee chair Daishrio Yamagiwa to demonstrate their disapproval of the proceedings.

Earlier this week, opposition lawmakers attempted to sandbag the legislative process by calling for the dismissal of the cabinet minister responsible for the IR bill. But the motion was rejected on Friday by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Buddhist-backed Komeito party.