LDS Church Condemns Prediction Markets as Gambling Amid Legal Fight

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has formally classified online prediction markets as gambling, escalating a cultural and legal conflict with federal regulators and the Trump administration over how to define wagering in the digital age. D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the faith’s First Presidency, declared during the church’s general conference that platforms allowing bets on real-world events are morally corrosive and specifically harmful to young people who now carry betting interfaces in their pockets.

This theological designation carries immediate regulatory weight because Utah, where the church is headquartered, maintains the strictest anti-gambling statutes in the United States. While the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and some federal policymakers have moved toward treating prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket as financial instruments subject to federal oversight rather than state gambling bans, Utah has successfully asserted its authority to block them. A federal judge ruled in August that the state could enforce its prohibitions against these platforms, validating a legislative strategy designed to close loopholes for event contracts.

Christofferson’s remarks highlight a generational divide in how religious institutions perceive modern finance. He noted that teenagers and young adults are increasingly substituting study and interpersonal relationships with speculative betting on outcomes ranging from weather patterns to geopolitical conflicts. The ubiquity of smartphone-based wagering has transformed what was once a localized vice into a persistent, accessible habit that church leaders argue produces no tangible value and fosters greed.

The distinction between a financial hedge and a bet remains the central friction point. Proponents of prediction markets argue they serve as information aggregation tools that improve market efficiency and risk management. However, critics, including Utah lawmakers and LDS leadership, contend that when users stake money on binary outcomes without an underlying economic interest, the activity is functionally identical to sports betting. Utah’s updated legislation this year specifically amended statutory language to ensure that “event contracts” fall squarely under existing gambling prohibitions, preempting attempts by operators to reclassify their products as derivatives.

Religious opposition to this sector extends well beyond Mormonism. The Southern Baptist Convention declared sports gambling inconsistent with biblical principles in 2025, and the United Methodist Church has long characterized gambling as a societal menace. Catholic teaching distinguishes between moderate games of chance and problematic excess, while Islam and Hinduism maintain stricter prohibitions. For the LDS Church, however, the stance is absolute and historically tied to Utah’s identity; the state has banned lotteries, casinos, and racetracks for over a century based on the belief that seeking gain without reciprocal value undermines community cohesion.

The church’s public intervention also signals a refined approach to political engagement under President Dallin Oaks. Following significant backlash over direct involvement in California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, LDS leadership has shifted toward more calculated advocacy that combines public doctrinal statements with targeted legislative support rather than grassroots mobilization. This strategy allows the institution to influence policy on issues like abortion rights in Idaho and Nevada, and now gambling regulation, while maintaining institutional distance from partisan electoral mechanics.

Utah’s legal victory in August currently stands as the most significant state-level check on the expansion of federally regulated prediction markets, creating a potential blueprint for other states seeking to opt out of the emerging national framework for event contracting.