O Be Wise
My plea is not only to refrain from gambling but to use the time and resources saved thereby for doing good.
Today I feel a bit like the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob, when he felt compelled by the Spirit to address subjects that were not particularly edifying, having to use “boldness of speech,” as he put it, instead of feasting on “the pleasing word of God.” So, with a sense of duty, I turn to the subject of gambling.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, in addressing this subject over 20 years ago, mentioned a story about former United States President Calvin Coolidge, known as a man of few words. As Coolidge returned home from church one Sunday, his wife asked him what the preacher spoke about. He replied, “Sin.”
“Well, what did he say?” she asked.
“He was against it,” replied Coolidge.
President Hinckley said, “I think I could answer the question concerning gambling just that briefly. We are against it.”
Putting money or something of value at risk to bet on a particular outcome or event is an activity that has plagued mankind almost, I suppose, from the beginning of time. And time has not made it any more worthwhile or any less harmful. Unfortunately, in recent years, gambling has become incredibly pervasive.
The smartphone has transformed gambling from an occasional activity requiring a trip to a casino, racetrack, or lottery kiosk into an activity available continuously, privately, and almost anywhere. This has led to an explosion in gambling. Worldwide surveys spanning multiple years indicate that 46 percent of adults gambled in the last 12 months—that is about 2.3 billion people. The global gambling industry generated estimated revenues of $758 billion in 2025. Of course, the industry’s revenue is the gambler’s loss. Simply put, the industry’s entire business model is built on its customers losing money.
The growth in worldwide gambling is primarily driven by three new online markets. First is online sports betting, which involves wagers on sports scores, statistics, or events. Second is online casino-type games, sometimes referred to as internet or iGaming: slot games, roulette, blackjack, poker, and so on. A third, relatively new platform is what are called “prediction markets” that allow participants to bet on whether something will or will not happen and when. It could be tied to anything: interest rates, elections, sports, wildfires, or even, if you can imagine, the timing of the Second Coming. (Where would you go to collect on that bet?)
Youth and young adults are disproportionately affected. For this demographic, impulsivity and peer influence are compounded by early exposure, easy online access, and intense marketing. Widespread social acceptance only adds to the enticement. Sports betting is especially rampant among teenagers and young adults. It easily becomes consuming and often compulsive. It robs time from studies, relationships, and career development. It crowds out things of value and in their place fosters greed.
In the United States, 36 percent of boys age 11 to 17 reported gambling last year, rising from 32 percent at age 11 to 49 percent—virtually half of all boys—at age 17. Equally troubling is the substantial percentage of 18- to 29-year-old women who now participate in gambling each year, especially mobile sports betting, slots, and lotteries.
Surveys reveal that people know that in gambling the odds are stacked against them, and the house always wins—they just don’t think it will win against them personally. But the central risk of gambling is not merely that customers lose money on individual wagers. The larger concern is that continuous, mobile access can transform occasional entertainment into repeated behavior that displaces saving, increases debt, and creates far-reaching family and social costs. I have to agree with George Washington when he said of gambling, “It is the child of avarice—the brother of inequity—and father of mischief” (although calling it “mischief” may be too mild).
Earlier this year a prominent journalist wrote in The Atlantic magazine about his preplanned, monthslong experience with sports gambling. Among other things, he noted: “Experts estimate that only about 2 to 5 percent of gamblers will develop compulsive behaviors. But … that small percentage becomes a very large number when tens of millions of [people] suddenly have casinos in their pockets.”
He concluded: “As a society, we are making an enormously risky bet: that we can reap the rewards of a runaway gambling industry without paying any price; [we are betting] that the litany of social ills long associated with this vice—addiction and impoverishment, isolation and abuse, cheating and … corrosive idleness—can, this time, be kept in check; [we are betting] that, unlike every civilization that came before us, we can beat the house.”
At different times, President Dallin H. Oaks has reminded us that “as we make current decisions, we should always be asking, ‘Where will this lead?’ … What is the effect on our future of the decisions we make in the present?” President Oaks points out that each choice has an “opportunity cost,” that is, “if we spend time doing one thing, we lose the opportunity to do another.” What is the opportunity cost of gambling? What do you forgo in terms of money, time, relationships, and worthwhile pursuits? Where does it lead?
Perhaps you think your character and your commitment to divine covenants are sufficiently strong that, for you, wagers would never become more than occasional, casual fun. Maybe. But whether you are right about that or not, have you considered how your example might affect others?
If your moral standing is secure, then undoubtedly there are others who look to you as a guide for upright living. That would certainly be true for your children but also others that you may or may not know who are watching and learning from what they see in you. They may be newer or weaker in the faith. A little gambling that seemingly has only a minor impact in your life may be more costly to them if they take license from your example.
The Apostle Paul noted in his day that someone with a firm belief in Christ could eat food sacrificed to idols without intending it as a sign of idol worship; it would just be a meal. But he cautioned the disciples to abstain anyway.
“Take heed,” he said, “lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak.
“For if any man see thee which hast knowledge [of the gospel] sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols;
“And through thy [conduct] shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?”
In the context of my message today, Paul is saying, “Since your recreational gambling may lead a weaker brother or sister into temptation, just don’t do it. Every soul is precious, and Christ died for him, for her, as He did for you.”
For us as Latter-day Saints, overarching all other concerns is the fact that gambling is morally wrong. Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. In addition, our resources are stewardships, and the question is not merely whether a purchase is legal but whether it builds anything—in us, in our families, or in those around us. In the end, gambling produces nothing of value and enriches only its purveyors.
President Oaks clearly stated the moral case against gambling some years ago in these words: “What does gambling do to its participants? The attitude of taking something from someone else in order to enhance our own position—[which is] the essence of gambling—leads us away from the giving path of Christ and toward the taking path of the adversary. The act of taking or trying to take something from someone else without giving value in return is destructive of spiritual sensitivities.”
Today, I am pleading with all of us to live life on a higher plane. God has granted life and agency to each of us, and each of us is accountable to Him for how we live that life. A key part of a life well-lived is contributing to the well-being of others. It is being productive in worthy endeavors. It is being and doing better without others doing worse. It comes by supporting and rewarding work rather than idle pursuits. Work leads to prosperous, just, and equitable societies. Gambling, even for fun, leads in the opposite direction.
Remembering President Oaks’s comments about “opportunity cost” and the opportunities lost when a person devotes time and money to gambling, my plea again is not only to refrain from gambling but to use the time and resources saved thereby for doing good. The Lord counsels us to “be anxiously engaged in a good cause, … and bring to pass much righteousness.” Indeed, “blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.” If we hunger and thirst after righteousness, there are many good things we will pursue and other things that, because they are incompatible with righteousness, we will put out of our lives entirely.
I pray that you will not treat gambling lightly. Having begun these remarks quoting the prophet Jacob, I end with another of his statements: “O be wise; what can I say more?” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.