One of America’s best-known brand names has opened an Internet poker room, but nobody in America will be able to use it!

Playboy, an American icon of popular culture for decades, already is known around the world for Playboy magazine, Playboy TV, Playboy Clubs, the Playboy Mansion and the ubiquitous Playboy Bunnies.

Now you can add Playboy Poker to the mix.

But not in the good ol’ U.S. of A., where government bigwigs continue to hatch plans to bring down all Internet gambling.

So far, Feds in the U.S. have busted online casinos and online sportsbooks, and recently they’ve even gone after online payment processors that facilitate online gambling.

So it’s no stretch to imagine “Hef,” aka Playboy founder Hugh M. Hefner, in handcuffs at the behest of U.S. authorities, not for the porn for which he’s been so well-known for years, but for running an online poker game.

That’s why the new Playboy poker room will be available to everyone in the world–except the country in which Playboy HQ is based!

A Playboy spokeswoman told PokerHelper.com that the reason for the U.S. snub is, “The new legislation in the U.S. restricting financial transactions for all U.S. residents.”

She is referring, of course, to the Unlawful Internet Gamblng Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which the U.S. Congress passed last year and which banned U.S. banks and other financial entities from processing financial transactions involving online gambling sites.

Playboy Poker, which uses CryptoLogic software, is available at www.playboygaming.com/“>www.playboygaming.com.

“In CryptoLogic, Playboy has found an innovative and proven partner who can help us capitalize on the growth and excitement of online poker,” Hefner’s daughter, Playboy chief executive Christie Hefner, said in a statement announcing the new Playboy online poker room.

The website also offers online casino games.

Online poker players and other gamblers who use the site can rack up credit points, depending on how much they gamble, which can be redeemed for Playboy products, including a visit to the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

This is not Playboy’s first foray into the world of gambling.

The corporation has operated actual casinos in Atlantic City, London and elsewhere.