There are further benefits to insurance once it gets more advanced. Actuaries, along with experts studying the domain being insured, find an appropriate price for insuring various different options (ex: living by the shoreline vs however many meters inland) which provides a sort of regulation. It gives consumers a well informed number for any given risk. Even more advanced, they'll start to research new ways to make the activity safer. See: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Granted, gambling does give you betting markets which may help predict the future as well. But I would guess for broader topics only. Perhaps someone could enlighten me otherwise.