Mormon leader decries explosion in sports gambling, prediction markets

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints warned Saturday that an explosion in gambling driven by online prediction markets and sports betting is fostering greed, particularly among youths, while producing “nothing of value.”

D. Todd Christofferson, one of the top three leaders of what is known widely as the Mormon church, said rampant betting among teenagers and young adults is robbing time from their studies and relationships as smartphones make gambling possible anywhere.

“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,” Christofferson said at the faith’s twice-annual general conference.

The declaration that prediction markets are gambling puts the conservative church at odds with President Donald Trump. The Republican's administration has argued the platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket don’t constitute gambling and therefore shouldn’t be subjected to state gambling bans such as the one enacted this year in Utah, where the church is based.

Prediction markets allow wagers on anything from whether it will rain in Los Angeles or if the United States will go to war.

“Or even, if you can imagine, the timing of the Second Coming,” Christofferson said Saturday. “Where do you go to collect on that bet?”

Opposition to gambling is common among religious organizations. The Methodist Church refers to it as “a menace to society.” The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, has condemned gambling several times and in 2025 declared sports gambling inconsistent with biblical principle.

Gambling is forbidden in Islam and considered a vice among Hindus. In the Catholic Church, gambling is not in itself a sin, but is considered potentially problematic.

For more than a century, Utah kept gambling almost entirely out of the state. There are no casinos, no lotteries and no racetracks that allow bets. The prohibition is rooted in the ideals of Mormons who view gambling as a path to selfishness and addiction.

“The rise of predictive markets, and the legalization of sports gambling, this is just really taking off all across the country,” said Matthew Bowman, a professor of religion and history at Claremont Graduate University in California. “And a lot of institutions — religious, state and otherwise — are grappling with this problem.”

Saturday’s speech comes as the church has been wading into political issues under President Dallin Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice who became the faith’s top leader last October. Church leaders this year have opposed state ballot measures that would establish rights to abortion in Idaho and Nevada.

Yet the institution's approach to political issues — using public statements and behind-the-scenes lobbying to convey its message — has become more calculated in recent years, Bowman said.

The shift followed public blowback to the church’s stance against California’s Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot measure that sought to ban gay marriage. In that case, Bowman said church leaders encouraged its members to get directly involved.

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Brown reported from Billings, Mont. Holly Meyer contributed to this story from Nashville, Tennessee.

Jenesslee Aiono, 12, of Seattle, arrives at the Conference Center with her family for the morning session of the 196th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (Erin Hooley/The Deseret News via AP)

President Dallin H. Oaks and his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, exit the morning session of the 196th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (Erin Hooley/The Deseret News via AP)

People look for tickets outside the Conference Center for the morning session of the 196th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (Erin Hooley/The Deseret News via AP)

Conferencegoers give sustaining votes during the morning session of the 196th Semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)

FILE - People attend the conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, April 7, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

FILE - Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during a news conference at the Conference Center, Jan. 27, 2015, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

The co-pilot suspected in this week's FlyDubai attack has been identified as an Omani national, and the United Arab Emirates says he attacked the captain with the cockpit's crash ax before trying to seize the controls.

Meanwhile, a hospital in Gaza says Israeli strikes have killed five people, including two from the Palestinian territory's Christian minority. And a fire broke out at an oil facility in the Saudi capital, with no details released on the cause.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Saturday. Full coverage is available here.

The co-pilot suspected of stabbing the captain of an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight before passengers and others stopped the attack is an Omani national named Hamam al-Hammami, said three people with knowledge of the situation, including a Gulf and a Western diplomat.

All spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media. The Gulf diplomat said that investigations are underway to establish whether he acted alone.

The United Arab Emirates said that the co-pilot attacked the captain with the cockpit’s crash ax and tried to take control of the plane in a “terrorist attack.”

The co-pilot, who officials said nearly crashed the sharply plummeting flight with 182 people aboard, was barred from flying by Oman over concerns he had adopted extremist views, a separate person familiar with the matter said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

— By Samy Magdy, Sam Mednick, Anna Johnson

Israeli strikes overnight in Gaza killed five people, according to Shifa Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Four women were among those killed. A mother and daughter among them were Christians, a minority in Gaza, the hospital said, and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, expressed condolences.

A large fire burned at the site, where the strikes tore a gaping hole in the ground floor of a multistory building. The hospital said that people were still reported missing beneath the debris.

Israel's military didn't immediately comment, saying it was checking for information.

Israeli strikes have killed at least 1,439 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire was reached with the Hamas militant group nearly a year ago, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Its figures are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It doesn't give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Israel says it is targeting Hamas and other militants who pose a threat, and in response to ceasefire violations, including occasional attacks.

Israel's army said Saturday that it killed the most senior Hamas figure in Gaza and the right hand man to Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

Ali Ahmed Al-Amoudi was killed in an apartment used by Hamas, said the army. It said he was the deputy chairman for Hamas' political bureau and that he was involved in decision-making surrounding the group's attacks that sparked the war.

The army said Al-Amoudi took part in an attack in the West Bank in 1993 in which four Israelis were killed and in the killing of an officer the year later in Ramallah.

It said that today he is directly involved in rebuilding Hamas' capabilities to fight.

A fire broke out at an oil facility in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, sending dense black smoke into the air, a witness said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

It wasn’t clear what caused the fire at an Aramco oil refinery. Authorities tightened security in the area and police blocked roads leading to it, the witness said.

The Saudi state-run Aramco oil company and the government-run Center for International Communication, which oversees foreign media in Saudi Arabia, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Saudi oil facilities have recently been hit in missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. A major escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis has revived Yemen’s civil war.

— By Samy Magdy

Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said that airstrikes hit the capital, Sanaa, as renewed fighting raged between the Houthis on one side and Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognized government on the other. Residents reported hearing three loud explosions.

The Houthi media office accused Saudi Arabia of launching the strikes but didn’t offer evidence. There was no immediate Saudi comment.

Yemen’s military claimed responsibility. In a social media post, a spokesperson, Col. Majed al-Nazili, said that “legitimate vital military targets” were hit. He didn’t offer details.

Iran executed a man convicted of firing at police during widespread unrest in January, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The report identified the man as Siavash Jamshidi Kheirabadi, a resident of Shahrekord in central Iran. It said that he confessed to possessing weapons and firing at police, and was convicted on charges including moharebeh, Farsi for “waging war against God.”

The report didn't say how the execution was carried out, though Iran typically carries out executions by hanging. Earlier this week, IRNA reported that Iran had executed two other men over violence during the January protests.

IRNA news agency also said on Saturday that Iran's intelligence forces arrested more than 30 people accused of belonging to several groups accused of preparing for street unrest.

IRNA said that the arrests were made in the southern city of Sirjan. The intelligence ministry accused the groups of making large numbers of Molotov cocktails to damage surveillance cameras. It said that members of those networks had also participated in the violence during the nationwide protests in January, including destroying public and private property and attacking a police station in an attempt to obtain weapons.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an early morning Israeli airstrike, during their funeral in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A destroyed building is seen at the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians inspect the site of an early morning Israeli airstrike in Gaza city, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)