Future Gaming: All You Need To Know About The Single Biggest Electoral Bond Donor
Coimbatore-based Future Gaming, a major lottery distributor, has emerged as the biggest single donor to political parties via the electoral bond route, donating as much as Rs 1,368 crore.
The company, registered as Future Gaming And Hotel Services Pvt., was set up in 1991. It was founded by Santiago Martin, known as the 'Lottery King' of India.
According to Future's website, Martin started off in the lottery business at the age of 13, where "he had managed to develop and secure a vast marketing network of the buyers and sellers of lotteries all over India."
In the south, the company operated under a subsidiary, Martin Karnataka, whereas in the north-east, it opened Martin Sikkim Lottery.
The company claims a workforce of over 1,000 employees across 13 states where lotteries are legal, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, and West Bengal. In Nagaland and Sikkim, Future is the sole distributor of the popular ‘Dear Lottery'.
Though registered in Tamil Nadu, the state, under then-Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, banned lotteries in 2003, but Martin moved most of his business to Karnataka and Kerala.
After his success with the lottery, Martin diversified into real estate, construction, textiles and hospitality. He also set up businesses in Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
According to Future's website, Martin was also the Consul General for Liberia, where he also set up a lottery industry.
He is also the President of the All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries, a lobby of lottery distributors, stockists and agents.
Legal Run-Ins
Martin, Future Gaming and its associates have had multiple run-ins with the law and are under the scanner of multiple investigative agencies.
In October 2023, the Income Tax Department conducted raids at four locations belonging to Martin and Future Gaming. This was pertaining to an Enforcement Directorate investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, which revealed that Martin and his associates made illegal gains of about Rs 910 crore on account of inflating the prize-winning ticket claim for the period between 2009 and 2010.
In April 2022, the Enforcement Directorate alleged Future Gaming and its various distributors of lottery tickets conspired to illegally retain unsold lottery tickets and claim top prizes on such unsold tickets in the pre-GST period up to 2017.
The ED had then said that the sale proceeds of lottery tickets have been illegally diverted towards gifts and incentives, and the company illegally claimed around Rs 400 crore between 2014 and 2017.
Martin's son-in-law, Aadhav Arjun and his properties were also searched by the Enforcement Directorate in March this year as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged illegal sand mining in Tamil Nadu.
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