Joe Francis -- Charges Dropped in $2.5 Million Gambling Fight

Chalk up another legal victory for Joe Francis -- a Nevada court has ruled the "Girls Gone Wild" honcho WILL NOT be prosecuted for allegedly plotting to screw Steve Wynn out of a $2.5 million gambling marker.

It all dates back to an incident in 2007 -- when Francis took out the marker at the Wynn Las Vegas ... and failed to pay it back. Wynn reported the incident to officials ... and the State of Nevada later charged Francis with theft and drawing and passing a check without sufficient funds.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ, prosecutors admitted Francis HAD enough cash to cover the marker at the time -- but before Wynn tried to collect, Joe's accounts "may have been frozen by the government in connection with a federal tax prosecution."

Therefore, the court ruled prosecutors could no longer move forward with the case because they couldn't prove Joe "intended to default on the marker" ... a required element of the charged offenses.

In fact, the evidence shows Joe PROBABLY would have paid the money back ... if he could've.

TMZ spoke with Joe ... who tells us, "I think it is absolutely disgusting what Steve Wynn and his cohorts tried to do to me."