With $165 mn, 'Lottery King' Santiago Martin is top electoral bond donor. Who is he?

The Election Commission of India on Thursday (Mar 14) made public the list of entities that had purchased electoral bonds to make political donations.

The details were made public days after the State Bank of India released the details after the Supreme Court's order to this effect.

In the list of donors, it was revealed that a company called Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited made the highest amount of donations.

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The company is run by Santiago Martin, who is also known as "Lottery King".

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Future Gaming and Hotel Services was earlier called as Martin Lottery Agencies Limited and was founded in 1991 by the 'Lottery King'.

Who is "Lottery King" Santiago Martin?

According to Santiago Martin's charitable trust website, the Lottery King first started working as a labourer in Yangon, Myanmar.

He came back to India from Myanmar in 1988 and set up a lottery business in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The firm's website says that Martin set up the lottery business at the age of 13, when "he had managed to develop and secure a vast marketing network of the buyers and sellers of lotteries all over India".

Later, his business expanded in neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka before he shifted to the northeast.

In northeast India, he set up his business of managing government lottery schemes. Later, he took his business offshore by setting up entities in Bhutan and Nepal.

As per the website, the 'Lottery King' later diversified his business and entered the sectors of real estate, textiles, hospitality and construction.

"He is also the President of All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries – an organisation engaged for uplifting and infusing credibility to the lottery trade in India. Under his stewardship, his enterprise, Future Gaming Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. became a member of the prestigious World Lottery Association and is expanding into the field of Online Gaming & Casinos and Sports Betting," read the website.

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Martin's company Future Gaming became India's first lottery company which started live telecasts of the draws conducted by different governments for their lotteries on TV.

His company is a member of the Asia Pacific Lottery Association (APLA) and the World Lottery Association (WLA).

Future Gaming was given accreditation by WLA in 2009 after it matched the criteria for Level 1 of the "WLA Responsible Gaming Framework".

As per the website of Future Gaming, Martin was also the Consul General for Liberia where he established a lottery industry.

Martin is also the president of the All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries, which is the lobby of stockists, agents and lottery distributors.

Between 2019 and 2024, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited donated Rs 13680 million (approx $165 million).

Santiago Martin was under Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Dept lens

Martin remained under the lens of central investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department for more than a decade and was accused of money laundering and financial fraud in 2011.

In one of the most recent cases, Punjab-based lottery distributor Arunjot Singh Sodhi had filed a case in Punjab and Haryana High Court in August 2023 in which he had alleged that a Rs 9,000 million lottery scam took place in the state.

Sodhi had accused the government of formulating policies and making them in accordance with Martin's preference. The High Court was informed by the state government that they are investigating the allegations made by Sodhi.

In 2021, Martin, his companies and others were accused by the Enforcement Directorate of investing some of the proceeds of crime generated from the Lottery King's business in immovable properties via nearly 40 companies, which have been created using the names of their family members and associates.

IT department officials in 2019 conducted a raid in 70 premises connected to Martin across India.

In 2012, he was arrested and detained in Vellore prison after he faced allegations of carrying out illegal activities.

(With inputs from agencies)