If you were hoping to put a little cash on your favorite MLB team this winter in the wake of them signing a big name free agent, you’re out of luck. The largest oddsmaker in the world – Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) – is halting/suspending/limiting all action on futures (i.e. the team’s odds to win a pennant or World Series) until after baseball’s winter meetings.

After an inquiry from the Herald, Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) decided to issue an alert at 4:05 p.m. EST to sportsbooks at casinos in Nevada and around the world that the potential for insider information arising from the meetings posed too much of a threat for gaining an unfair advantage.

“Major League Baseball’s annual meetings are under way here in Las Vegas through Thursday afternoon,” the alert stated. “LVSC is recommending to lower limits on futures or take them completely off boards during the meetings. News of trades or free agent signings will be known prior to being made public.”

Shortly after the alert was issued, the sportsbook at the Bellagio, where the meetings are being held, took action. Currently, the sportsbook is taking bets on the odds of a team winning the World Series and either the AL or NL pennant. This morning, a bet of up to $500 could be made. After the alert, any bet of $100 or more needed to be investigated before it was allowed.

This is a pretty smart move. Vegas doesn’t want anyone to have an unfair advantage with information coming out of the meetings and onto the strip, and they also don’t want any bad press with a major sport hosting a major event right in their backyard. Some gamblers might not like it because the ones staying on the strip in hopes of getting inside information (or what they believe to be inside information) are looking for every advantage they can get against the sports books. But Vegas is smart for playing this one safe.