Ukraine’s attorney general has restated his approval of the country legalizing gambling, but operators are growing impatient at the slow pace of regulatory change.

This week, Ukraine’s Attorney General Yuriy Lutsenko paid a visit to the town of Uzhgorod, where he staged a mock raid on an illegal gambling den and accused local officials of protecting the proprietors. Lutsenko insisted he wasn’t anti-gambling, but insisted that operators must obtain the government’s formal blessing.

Trouble is, Ukraine currently doesn’t permit legal gambling, having banned pretty much everything except lotteries in 2009. Legislation that would have legalized both land-based and online gambling was floated in 2015, but its unpalatable combination of high fees and other licensing restrictions left would-be licensees unimpressed, and the legislation was ultimately scrapped.

In April, Ukraine’s government offered assurances to the International Monetary Fund that the country would have a viable gambling regime in place by 2018, in keeping with the terms of the IMF’s economic aid package. Industry stakeholders offered to help the government craft more viable legislation but tangible signs of legislative progress remain elusive.