BLIK to Block Payments to Illegal Gambling Websites Starting September 2026
As of 1 September 2026, BLIK will start blocking payments linked to illegal gambling websites. BLIK is Poland’s dominant mobile payment system, run by Polski Standard Płatności S.A. (PSP), and is used for payments, ATM withdrawals and peer-to-peer transfers via a six-digit one-time code generated in a mobile banking app. The new mechanism targets domains listed in the Ministry of Finance’s register of illegal gambling sites.
Verification happens at the transaction authorisation stage, thanks to an API integration between BLIK and the Ministry’s register, so a BLIK payment tied to a blacklisted gambling domain should simply be rejected. This applies regardless of whether the transaction is processed by a domestic or a foreign acquiring agent, which considerably widens its practical reach across the payments ecosystem.
It’s worth being clear about what this isn’t: a new law or regulation from central government. The legal framework on illegal online gambling, including the Ministry of Finance’s register and the restrictions on payment services linked to it, is already in force. It’s a technological measure, adopted by PSP within the existing legal framework, designed to make that framework work better in practice. That said, this wasn’t purely a commercial decision taken on PSP’s own initiative: PSP secured approval from the President of the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski) before rolling it out, and it was this approval that allowed the mechanism to cover transactions processed by foreign acquiring agents too. The initiative also follows earlier communications from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego), which had already flagged to payment service providers the material risks tied to illegal gambling, including money laundering concerns.
Market participants, particularly those running payment infrastructure, can build internal solutions that make existing legal restrictions actually bite. Given how central BLIK is to the Polish payments market, this mechanism could meaningfully limit unlicensed operators’ ability to offer Polish consumers a payment method they know and trust.
For licensed operators, this measure could help level the playing field by narrowing the edge that unlicensed competitors currently enjoy. Cutting off access to BLIK should sharpen the distinction between licensed and unlicensed operators and make it harder for consumers to transact with illegal providers. Of course, unlicensed operators may try to steer customers towards other payment methods or foreign providers, a risk PSP itself has acknowledged. So the mechanism’s long-term effectiveness will depend on consistent enforcement across the whole payments ecosystem, and on continued cooperation between public authorities, financial institutions, payment service providers and the licensed gambling sector.
