Poland's BLIK Blocks Payments to Illegal Gambling Sites

Poland's most popular payment system, BLIK, began blocking transactions directed to illegal iGaming operators starting September 1, according to a report by Parkiet. The system automatically cross-references payment domains against the Finance Ministry's registry of illegal gambling sites, which currently lists more than 55,000 domains, and halts transactions before authorization completes. The blocking mechanism applies to payments processed through both Polish and foreign payment acquirers.

According to the vice president of Polski Standard Płatności, the company that operates BLIK, some flagged sites operate legally within their country of registration but lack authorization to offer gambling services in Poland specifically. He noted that the company introduced this additional blocking mechanism voluntarily, even though existing law places primary responsibility for such enforcement on payment service providers themselves rather than on payment system operators like BLIK.

The move adds a significant new enforcement layer against illegal gambling in Poland, targeting the payment infrastructure level rather than relying solely on website blocking or advertising restrictions. Given BLIK's dominant position among Polish payment methods, the measure could meaningfully disrupt the financial channels illegal operators rely on to process transactions from Polish players.