Who Is Future Gaming, The Rs 1,368 Cr Donor
The Election Commission of India (ECI) uploaded electoral bond details on its website on Thursday following a Supreme Court ruling in which the State Bank of India (SBI) has been asked to provide data.
Since 2019, almost 1,300 companies purchased electoral bonds of Rs 12,155.51 crore. However, Coimbatore-based lottery services firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services emerged as the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds as the company bought bonds of Rs 1,368 crore in the last five years.
Who is Future Gaming?
Future Gaming was founded in 1991 by Santiago Martin who is known as the Lottery King of India. After Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha prohibited lotteries in the state in 2003, Santiago Martin shifted the majority of his company to Karnataka and Kerala.
Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming has a subsidiary in south India called Martin Karnataka and in the northeast, it launched the Martin Sikkim Lottery. Martin was said to be the master distributor for the Sikkim lottery.
Future Gaming has over 1,000 employees in 13 states where lotteries are permitted, including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim and West Bengal. In Nagaland and Sikkim, the company is the exclusive distributor of the popular ‘Dear Lottery’.
Santiago Martin also served as Consul General in Liberia, where he established a lottery industry and currently serving as the President of the All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries, which represents lottery distributors, stockists and agents, according to the Future Gaming website.
According to a media report, Charles Jose Martin, the elder son of lottery king Santiago Martin joined the BJP in 2015. He received the membership at a small function in New Delhi.
Cases against Future Gaming
Future Gaming has faced many legal cases. In 2022, the Enforcement Directorate attached assets worth over Rs 409 crore from the lottery company and its sub-distributors due to a money laundering case. Investigating agencies attached Rs 173 crore in July 2022 and Rs 457 crore were also attached in May 2023.
The ED alleged that lottery ticket earnings were fraudulently routed for gifts and incentives, with the business claiming approximately Rs 400 crore between 2014 and 2017.
On 9 March 2024, ED conducted searches in the premises of Aadhav Arjun, son-in-law of Santiago Martin in Tamil Nadu as part of a money laundering inquiry linked to the probe of alleged unlawful sand mining in the state.
The ED is investigating Santiago Martin as part of another money laundering case stemming from a CBI prosecution against him and others for suspected offences related to the Sikkim government’s selling of lotteries.
