Mormon leader calls prediction markets gambling, diverging from Trump stance
A Mormon leader declared that prediction markets constitute gambling, aligning the conservative church against President Donald Trump's administration. The declaration came in a broader denunciation of sports betting and prediction markets. Neither source identifies the specific leader, the venue, or the precise timing beyond publication dates of October 3 and October 4, 2026. The stated split with Trump adds religious pressure to an already contested policy arena.
Christofferson's prior remarks already named Kalshi directly. This broader category attack lets state legislators in conservative jurisdictions draft restrictive bills without engaging swaps law at all. The faith-leader pressure arrives while Ohio and Tennessee courts have pierced federal preemption and New York pursues Polymarket on gambling-framing theory. Platforms now spend on three simultaneous fronts: federal rule comments, state court defense, and public opinion.
CFTC rulemaking lags months behind state filing speed. A religion-backed restriction in one state becomes the template others copy. That adds cultural mandate to legal precedent. No single win on any front will be decisive. Operators face a narrative vacuum that state attorneys general can fill if the administration does not convert its rhetoric into concrete policy defense.
This is the second broadside from Mormon leader Christofferson in under two days; his prior remarks named Kalshi directly, and this new category-wide gambling framing gives state legislators a template for religion-backed restriction bills.