Almost immediately after President D. Todd Christofferson said, “Gambling is morally wrong,” during the October 2026 General Conference, the LDS apologetic account @allthoseinfavor reacted as though the Church had just drawn a new moral line on gambling. Which personally is a bit concerning, seeing as the account runs a podcast discussing all aspects of Mormonism, including the history of the church. So I find it hard to believe that they haven't ever encountered the anti-gambling position of the church in their studies.
Christofferson’s talk was certainly timely. He described a world in which smartphones have made sports betting, casino-style games, and prediction markets available almost anywhere, and he warned against treating an occasional wager as harmless entertainment.[1] But the moral judgment itself was not new. In fact, the Church had used almost the same words more than a century earlier.
In August 1908, Church President Joseph F. Smith addressed speculation and gambling in the Improvement Era. He distinguished ordinary investment from transactions designed simply to win money from changing prices, then stated the Church’s position plainly.[2]
The Church does not approve of gambling but strongly condemns it as morally wrong.[2]
Smith went on to include games of chance and lotteries “of all kinds” within that condemnation.[2] This was not a modern summary of an older teaching. The statement appears in the 1908 issue itself, under Smith’s name.
The phrase “morally wrong” in relation to gambling was already being used by the president of the Church 118 years earlier. Christofferson was not introducing a new moral category. He was repeating one already present in the Church’s own record.
In 1985, Gordon B. Hinckley reviewed the Church’s history of opposition to lotteries and quoted a 1925 statement from Heber J. Grant and his counselors in the First Presidency. Their language was broader than a warning about addiction or excessive gambling. The Church was “unalterably opposed to gambling in any form.”[3]
Two years later, Dallin H. Oaks devoted a Ricks College address to the subject. Its title was “Gambling--Morally Wrong and Politically Unwise.”[4]
By then, the moral language was not obscure, isolated, or difficult to find. Church leaders had been using it for decades.
The clearest precedent came in April 2005, when Hinckley addressed gambling from the General Conference pulpit.
He said he had received questions about the Church’s position as gambling became more common, especially among young people. His answer was brief.[5]
We are against it.[5]
Hinckley then discussed poker, horse and dog racing, roulette, slot machines, lotteries, casinos, and online gambling. He quoted Joseph F. Smith’s 1908 description of gambling as morally wrong, repeated Heber J. Grant’s declaration that the Church was opposed to gambling “in any form whatever,” and cited Oaks’s 1987 address by title.[5]
Near the end, Hinckley returned to the institutional position: “The Church has been and is now opposed to this practice.”[5]
That 2005 talk matters because Hinckley did not merely condemn gambling. He laid out the history of the condemnation. Anyone reading Christofferson’s 2026 statement as a newly created Church position has to get past a General Conference talk, delivered by the Church president, that had already traced the same position back to 1908.
Sportsbook apps, live wagers, and prediction markets make gambling feel less like a casino visit and more like another feature on a phone. But Church publications had already applied the prohibition to sports betting long before the current boom.
A 2002 New Era article described sports betting as a common form of gambling among teenagers. It addressed raffles, poker games between friends, and bets involving small amounts of money, then rejected the idea that those were harmless exceptions. “There’s no such thing as a friendly bet,” it said, while telling Latter-day Saints not to participate in any form of gambling.[6]
In January 2016, the New Era answered the question even more directly: “The Church is against all gambling of any kind, including lotteries.”[7] It also quoted the 2011 For the Strength of Youth booklet, which told young members that gambling was wrong.[7]
The current General Handbook is more explicit still.[8]
The Church opposes and counsels against gambling in any form. This includes sports betting and government-sponsored lotteries.[8]
So the Church had already condemned gambling broadly, rejected casual exceptions, discussed sports betting, and placed the prohibition in its handbook before Christofferson spoke in October 2026.
What changed is the environment. His address is aimed at a gambling market that can follow a person everywhere. A wager no longer requires a casino, a racetrack, or even a computer. It can be made from a couch, a stadium seat, or a lunch break in seconds.
Christofferson emphasized smartphones, sports betting, casino-style games, and prediction markets.[1] He also addressed the person who thinks an occasional wager is merely “casual fun,” arguing that the moral concern does not begin only after someone becomes addicted.[1]
He put particular emphasis on what gambling does to other people, arguing that it is structured around one person gaining at another’s expense and connecting that concern to the commandment to love one’s neighbor.[1]
There is a fair version of the apologetic response. Many Latter-day Saints may genuinely have experienced Christofferson’s talk as new. Gambling has not dominated recent General Conferences, and phone-based sports betting has become much more visible. A forceful talk can feel like a new boundary even when it is not one.
But individual memory and institutional history are very different things.
Sources
[1] Sydney Walker, “‘Gambling Is Morally Wrong,’ President Christofferson Declares during October 2026 General Conference,” Church News, October 3, 2026.
[2] Joseph F. Smith, “Editor’s Table: Is Speculation a Legitimate Means of Earning a Livelihood?” Improvement Era 11, no. 10 (August 1908): 806–808.
[3] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Questions and Answers,” General Conference, October 1985.
[4] Dallin H. Oaks, “Gambling--Morally Wrong and Politically Unwise,” Ricks College devotional, January 6, 1987.
[5] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Gambling,” General Conference, April 2005.
[6] “Don’t Bet Your Life,” New Era, February 2002.
[7] “What Is the Church’s Position on Gambling?” New Era, January 2016, 41.
[8] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 38.8.18, “Gambling and Lotteries,” accessed October 5, 2026.
[1] Sydney Walker, “‘Gambling Is Morally Wrong,’ President Christofferson Declares during October 2026 General Conference,” Church News, October 3, 2026.
[2] Joseph F. Smith, “Editor’s Table: Is Speculation a Legitimate Means of Earning a Livelihood?” Improvement Era 11, no. 10 (August 1908): 806–808.
[3] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Questions and Answers,” General Conference, October 1985.
[4] Dallin H. Oaks, “Gambling--Morally Wrong and Politically Unwise,” Ricks College devotional, January 6, 1987.
[5] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Gambling,” General Conference, April 2005.
[6] “Don’t Bet Your Life,” New Era, February 2002.
[7] “What Is the Church’s Position on Gambling?” New Era, January 2016, 41.
[8] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 38.8.18, “Gambling and Lotteries,” accessed October 5, 2026.
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