Except when it keeps paying off, it's not so much "hoping" as just "being big enough to throw so many things at a wall that has such a high payout, anything sticking means winning the lottery. Again. And again. And again"...

Google can literally _afford_ to kill off highly profitable ventures because something else will make them _more_ money.

(which in itself should be reason enough to judicially split this company up, but that's apparently no longer a thing we do, so here we are)