Who Really Wins?
From “O Be Wise,” by President D. Todd Christofferson · Saturday morning session, October 2026 General Conference
The big idea
Gambling takes and builds nothing; the Savior invites us to a higher plane where we use our time and means to give and do good.
Objective
Youth will be able to explain why gambling is wrong and what it costs, practice a confident answer to an invitation to bet, and choose one way to use their time or money for good this week.
Before you teach
- Read President Christofferson's talk. Mark T08.07, T08.09–10, T08.14–16 and T08.22–25.
- Write three questions on separate cards for the group work in the third segment (see the steps there).
- Bring paper and pens. Ask youth to have their scriptures or the Gospel Library app open.
- Decide beforehand that no one will be asked whether they or anyone they know has gambled. Teach the principles and keep the room safe.
Lesson plan
Thirty minutes in 6 parts. Times are a guide; let the Spirit and the learners set the pace.
Closest guess
- As youth walk in, split them into two or three teams and give each a sheet of paper. Start right away.
- Ask three questions from the talk. Teams write a guess for each and hold it up; the closest guess scores a point. One: in the United States, what percent of boys age 11 to 17 reported gambling last year? (36.) Two: what was the percent at age 17? (49, virtually half.) Three: how much did the global gambling industry take in during 2025? (An estimated 758 billion dollars.)
- Ask where that money came from. Then read the key quote from T08.07 about the industry's business model.
- Say that President Christofferson of the First Presidency said he spoke about this from a sense of duty, and that he said youth and young adults are affected more than others.
- If the whole business only works when its customers lose, who really wins?
Why it finds us
- Have youth open the talk on their phones and read T08.09 silently. Ask them to find every reason President Christofferson gives that their age group is hit harder.
- List what they find on the board: impulsivity, peer influence, early exposure, easy online access, intense marketing, wide social acceptance.
- Ask the first question below. Accept general answers such as ads, apps, group chats and sports talk. Do not ask for names or personal stories.
- Point out what he says it does: it robs time from studies, relationships and career development, and it crowds out things of value.
- Without naming anyone, where do people your age run into this?
- Which item on this list do you think is the strongest pull, and why?
Three honest questions
- Form three groups and give each a card. Card 1: It is only a few dollars and it is fun, so what is the harm? Read T08.14 and T08.11. Card 2: I can handle it, so why does it matter what I do? Read T08.15–16 and 1 Corinthians 8:9–11. Card 3: It is legal in lots of places, so why is it wrong? Read T08.22–23 and Matthew 22:39.
- Give groups three minutes to find President Christofferson's answer and put it in their own words in two sentences.
- Each group reports in one minute. After group 1, write “opportunity cost” on the board with the four things he names: money, time, relationships, worthwhile pursuits.
- After group 3, read President Oaks's words about the giving path and the taking path (aligned quote, T08.23).
- Which answer would actually make sense to a friend who is not a member of the Church?
Say it out loud
- Set a hypothetical: a group chat is putting five dollars each on tonight's game, and a friend tags you to join.
- In pairs, youth take turns being the friend and giving a reply that is short, kind and confident, with no lecture. One minute each.
- Ask a few pairs to share their best line. Write two or three on the board.
- Read Elder Andersen's sentence on spiritual courage (aligned quote). Remind them of President Christofferson's point that others who are newer or weaker in the faith may be watching what they do.
- What makes a no easier to say, and easier for a friend to hear?
Trade up
- Read President Christofferson's invitation (T08.25). Point out that he asks for two things: to refrain, and to use the time and resources saved for doing good.
- Have one youth read Doctrine and Covenants 58:27 and another read 3 Nephi 12:6. Ask what the Lord promises to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
- Read the key quote from T08.24 about a life well-lived.
- Give two minutes of silent writing, on paper or in a phone note: if you had one extra hour and ten dollars this week, list three ways you could use them to build something in yourself, your family or someone near you. Then have each youth star one.
- What is the difference between getting ahead and getting ahead without anyone else doing worse?
Choose and follow up
- Check for understanding: go around the room and have each youth finish the sentence aloud: Gambling is wrong because… or Instead I will…
- Invite each youth to do their starred idea before next Sunday. Promise, in the words the talk quotes from the Savior, that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness are filled with the Holy Ghost.
- Tell them you will open next week by asking what they traded up to, and that you will share yours first.
- Bear a brief testimony that the Savior gave everything for each of us, and that His way is the giving way. Close with Jacob's words that President Christofferson ended with: “O be wise.”
Key passages from the talk
“Simply put, the industry’s entire business model is built on its customers losing money.”
“It robs time from studies, relationships, and career development. It crowds out things of value and in their place fosters greed.”
“Every soul is precious, and Christ died for him, for her, as He did for you.”
“It is being and doing better without others doing worse.”
The speaker’s direct invitations
“my plea again is not only to refrain from gambling but to use the time and resources saved thereby for doing good”
“Today, I am pleading with all of us to live life on a higher plane.”
Scriptures
- 1 Corinthians 8:9–11 Group 2 reads it in the third segment to answer why my example matters even if I think I can handle it.
- Matthew 22:39 Group 3 reads it in the third segment and explains how winning at someone else's expense fits, or does not fit, this commandment.
- D&C 58:27 One youth reads it aloud in the Trade up segment before the silent writing; ask what a good cause looks like this week.
- 3 Nephi 12:6 One youth reads it aloud in the Trade up segment; identify the promise and attach it to the closing invitation.
Other voices that agree
“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.”
“Spiritual courage is the triumph over obstacles, doubt, and fear in choosing the right.”
Three things to remember
- Gambling only works when people lose; it takes and builds nothing.
- Someone is watching what I do, and Christ died for that person too.
- The Lord asks me to trade up: to spend my time and money on good causes, and He promises the Holy Ghost.
Ways to act this week
- Do your starred idea: one hour and a little money spent on purpose to build something good.
- Decide your answer now for the next time someone invites you to bet, and keep it ready.
- Delete or mute one app, account or chat that keeps putting betting in front of you.
- If this has already become hard to stop, talk with a parent or your bishop this week. They will be glad you came.
Suggestions written for this lesson, not the speaker’s words.
Music
- Choose the Right
- Do What Is Right
Adapting the lesson
- At home or with two or three youth: skip the teams. Guess the numbers together, take the three cards one at a time, and do the role play parent to youth, then switch.
- Short on time: keep Closest guess, the three cards and Trade up; drop the role play and give its scenario as the week's challenge.
- If a youth shares something personal, thank them, do not press for detail in front of the class, and follow up privately with kindness.
This lesson is an independent study aid written for this site. It is not an official lesson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quotations are word for word from the official talk; paragraph numbers count the paragraphs of the talk as published at churchofjesuschrist.org, not counting headings or picture captions. The activities, questions and ideas for acting are suggestions; follow the Spirit and adapt them to those you teach.