There are some companies that rise to such heights that they are not only the best in their line of work, but are also strong enough that they can influence the way policies are made and enforced on the international stage.

Imagine companies that are so powerful that when you do anything, like browse the web for the Videoslots welcome bonus, they not only manufacture your device or software on it, they know what is likely to come up in search results and what ads you are going to see and they are fighting hard to get more room and more leeway in the legislation of different countries in order to get more power. Let us examine some of the corporate giants that are at the top.

Apple

Apple is definitely one of the strongest brands on the face of the planet. In the not-so-distant-future, we may be looking at the world’s first privately owned trillion-dollar company. It is not a young company, either – Forbes proclaimed it was among the most influential companies of the last 25 years, and that was in 2012. The company is run by CEO Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs, the founder and a bit of a religious icon among Apple fans. The company faced criticism in the past for allegedly slowing down the phones whenever a new iPhone comes out in order to boost their sales.

ICBC

If you expected the list to contain nothing but the western companies, think again. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the biggest bank in the world. It is run by the country of China and its net worth is reportedly over $4 trillion. Its influence transcends the continents, as it is not present only in Africa and Antarctica.

China Construction Bank

Another bank in China, China Construction Bank Corporation was founded in 1954. Statista.com claims that the bank reached 23,222 billion yuan in 2018 or over $3 trillion. Reportedly, there is a branch of the bank in Shanghai staffed almost entirely by robots.

The company is also known for a number of controversies surrounding it, including financing Enron and being fined £33.32 million by FSA in the UK for failing to protect over $5 billion that belonged to their clients between 2002 and 2009 in the merger between J.P. Morgan and Chase by mixing the client funds with corporate funds.

Google

One of the biggest tech companies in the world was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998. The tech giant that stands proudly at the top, Google is famous for its browser Chrome, the Android OS, and being synonymous with searching for something online. Its net worth is estimated at over $320 billion, while its parent company Alphabet is worth more than $900 billion. Its influence is so strong that several of its pieces of software and services are banned in certain countries and regions, including China, Russia, and North Korea, where the areas in question have alternatives to Google or a limited number of Google features. The company has control over a large part of what is visible and invisible online.

Lobbying, the legal way of getting things done, but one which still leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths for some reason. Why is that? Why is lobbying considered to be something bad? Well, mostly because money is spent to influence decisions of people in various positions, political most of the time. 

Plenty of people result to lobbying, and even though it is not something illegal, it is often thought of with a frown on one’s face. There are plenty of industries which result to lobbying, not just individuals.

Among the top 20, would you believe it, you will not find casinos or bookmakers. Sure, some casinos and bookmakers will result to promotions and promotion codes, like these promotion codes for Ladbrokes, but other than that, they don’t even break the top 20.

Speaking of which, here are the industries which spend the most on lobbying.

The Pharmaceutical Industry – Including Health Products

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who knows anything about the pharmaceutical industry. If they are good at something, that is placing their products on the market and selling them. Their overall yearly expenditure is almost 4 billion dollars, coming up short only 63 million dollars.

People often consider this industry to deal only with drugs and medications but that is not the case. This industry is often connected to healthy products, namely dietary supplements. Some products are worth spending lots of money on lobbying, especially if you take a look at the annual expense across the industry.

The Insurance Industry

There is nothing like a bit of insurance which can go a long way, especially if you end up cashing up on a minor accident. While people expected pharmaceuticals to be at the top of the list, insurance was not among the expected industries, yet there it is, sitting at 2 billion and 700 million dollars, which, to be fair, is an entire billion and then some less than the pharmaceutical industry’s expenses. Insurance apparently has to pay for lobbying, and not just people cashing in on it.

Electric Utilities and Electronics Manufacturing Industries

While these are two separate industries, they sit relatively close to one another in terms of annual expenses. While electric utilities pays around 2 billion and 353 million dollars annually, the electronic industry pays around 2 billion and 230 million dollars annually. One hundred million dollars is a lot, but when looking at the entirety of an industry as a whole, the sum becomes insignificant.

The electric industry spends money on waste storage and air regulation while the electronics industry spends money on anything from cybersecurity to copyright.

These are but some of the industries which partake in lobbying. The other, in order, are Oil and Gas, Manufacturing and Distributing, Education, Hospitals, Investment Companies, Telecommunication, Real Estate, and so on and so forth. Almost any industry will spend money on lobbying when necessary, but the above-mentioned ones are the top spenders.

People like a bit of gambling here and there. Without tossing the dice or spinning the slot machines, some people cannot really live their lives normally. That might be problematic, but it is often the truth. On the other side, people like to occasionally gamble online, browsing the various betting promos to find a casino or sportsbook which suits their needs.

On the business side of things, things can get a bit dicey, pardon the pun, and sometimes out of control. People like money and some like it far too much, so they decide to step over a couple of lines, break a few laws and earn themselves a sentence in prison.

Jack Abramoff did so, in a 2006 casino lobbying incident.

The 2006 Lobbying Incident – the Background

Casinos were very rarely allowed on US soil. The only states which had casinos were Nevada, New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana, and Michigan. That is a relatively small number of states, compared to today, after 2018’s challenging of the PASPA Act, which was found to be unconstitutional.

But back in 2006, it was either Nevada, fully saturated with casinos, or Indian tribe territory. Yes, Indians were allowed to open casinos on their own territories. In 1979, the Seminole tribe were the first to open a casino. Very soon, other tribes followed, realizing that it is a very lucrative business. Since most of the tribes’ territories were close to larger cities, people only had to travel a short while to get to the casinos. They were also a tourist attraction, since you were visiting Indian territories.

But, Native Americans did not always have the success they wanted with opening Casinos. Such is the story of the Choctaw, Coushatta and Tigua tribes.

Lobbying – Influence Turned Corruption

While lobbying itself is not illegal, as it is the attempt to gain influence of representatives or even officials, their actions and decisions. The problem is that lobbying can often go too far, and turn into corruption, scamming and other crimes which end up hurting some people and sending others to prison.

Jack Abramoff had a lobbying team and he had lots of experience with influencing people.

The Choctaw tribe gained access to Abramoff, because they failed at their own lobbying attempts, with a goal related to income tax.

He gained the trust of various tribes who all had plans to open casinos, like the Coushatta, the Agua Caliente Band, the Sandia Pueblo and the Saginaw Chippewa, as well as the Tigua tribe.

His plan was formed in early 2001, with an accomplice Michael Scanlon, to which they referred to as “gimme five”. The plan was to build Scanlon’s firms to have at least 3 million dollars revenue and to have them acquired at triple the price. Apart from that, derogatory terms were used when referring to Native American, often calling them monkeys and idiots in emails sent to his partners.

Abramoff and his partners scammed around 85 million dollars out of all their clients. Abramoff was put on trial in 2006.

The Trial and Sentence

Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, tax evasion and fraud, in 2006. They had to repay a fine of 25 million dollars to the tribes they wronged. Abramoff himself was sent to a 5 year sentence in prison. Actually, he served 5 years and 10 months in prison. He got out in 2011 and started working as a lobbyist again. He then described his previous work as legalized bribing, which is still present to an extent.

Lobbying is often the talk of many, especially when it comes to politics and anything related to business. It is often frowned upon, and with a good reason. The line between lobbying and breaking several laws is very, very thin.