Why do people take speculative risks?

All human activity involves a risk, since the activity exempted from it represents total immobility; and even so, if we all stayed at home doing nothing and stopped all productive activity, there would still be a risk
 In the speculative risk always seeks to make a profit, being exposed to a loss.
 For example, many insurance companies are now companies that are listed on the stock exchange. This means that the shareholders are taking a speculative risk that is ultimately derived from the execution of the company.