HOUSTON (AP) - Prosecutors have dismissed charges against nine people who had been arrested in May after two Houston poker clubs were raided as part of a two-year organized crime investigation.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said this week her office dropped the charges after discovering a potential conflict of interest involving a former contract employee and a political fundraiser.

Ogg declined to provide details involving the conflict of interest.

While gambling is illegal in Texas, such clubs have cited a gray area in state law they say lets them operate if they don't take a percentage of winnings.

The Texas Attorney General's Office has declined to say if such poker clubs are illegal, leaving it up local agencies to pursue such cases.

Ogg says she's referring the case to the FBI.

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