Japan is poised on the brink of revoking its longtime ban on casino gambling following a favorable committee vote in the legislature’s upper house.

Despite a contentious debate that saw legislators still talking well into Tuesday evening, the upper house committee tasked with vetting the Integrated Resorts Promotion (IR) bill eventually voted to bring the legislation to the floor of the upper house for a vote. The vote must occur on Wednesday (14), the final day of the Diet’s extraordinary session.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a commanding majority in the upper house, making Wednesday’s vote something of a foregone conclusion, barring any mass pangs of conscience by LDP MPs. Abe has touted the introduction of casino gambling as a means of boosting international tourism traffic and domestic employment.

Japan’s lower house approved the bill last week, despite some LDP members defying their leadership by voting against the measure and opposition parties staging a walkout to protest what they claimed was the LDP steamrolling the bill through the Diet despite widespread public wariness toward casino gambling.