[nrmitchi]

> Gambling through leveraged stocks should to be taxed more heavily to offset its cost. Something like the rate on lottery tickets.

I agree with your initial point, but I don't believe this would actually help. People who are gambling typically don't look at the expected outcome and make "rational" decisions. Therefore, taking action that just modifes the expected outcome is unlikely to have any impact on the behaviour. People will still assume/hope that they will win, and if they win just a bit less, then so be it.