BY TOM SOMACH

Not all online poker rooms will be affected by a new law in the U.K. that restricts the advertising of Internet gambling sites.

Britain’s government dealt a blow to thousands of online gambling sites last week when it banned them from advertising in the U.K., beginning next month, British news service Reuters reported.

The government ruled that despite the firms having been granted licenses to run Internet poker and casino sites, the offshore countries they were based in did not have stringent enough regulations, Reuters reported.

Starting in September, any online firm based in gaming hotspots such as Costa Rica, the Netherlands Antilles and Belize will not be able to market in the U.K., which will prevent well-known sites including Betfred Casino and Littlewoodscasino.com from advertising online, on TV and in newspapers and magazines, Reuters reported.

“I make no apology for banning adverts for websites operating from places that don’t meet our strict standards,” Culture, Media and Sport Minister James Purnell told the news service.

Firms based in low-tax locations such as the Isle of Man and Alderney, in the British Isles, will be allowed to continue advertising, while countries within the European Union such as Gibraltar, where Party Gaming and 888.com are based, are also not affected, Reuters reported.

Party Gaming is the parent company of Party Poker and 888 is the parent company of Pacific Poker.

The British government said it was still considering whether to give permission to firms based in Antigua and the native Indian-owned Kahnawake reserve in Canada, which keeps online giants like Antigua-based Bodog on hold, Reuters reported.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)