Electoral bonds data: All about top donor Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd with ₹1,368 crore contribution

Electoral Bond Data: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday published the details on electoral bonds in compliance with Supreme Court order. The data was submitted to ECI by State Bank of India (SBI) on 12 March. According to the data, now available on the ECI website, Coimbatore-based Future Gaming emerged as the biggest donor of electoral bonds. 

Also Read: SBI Electoral Bonds data LIVE updates

According to the data, 23 companies accounted for half the total value of electoral bonds purchased since April 2019. Coimbatore-based lottery services firm Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd emerged as the top buyer. 

The list published by ECI gave details of bonds worth ₹12,155.51 crore that were purchased by over 1,300 companies in nearly five years. Of them, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd bought ₹1,368 crore, being the only one to exceed the ₹1,000-crore mark, according to Mint analysis.

Here are 10 points on Future Gaming

-Future Gaming was found by Lottery King of India Santiago Martin in 1991. 

-Santiago Martin had moved most of his business to Karnataka and Kerala after then Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha had banned lottery in the state in 2003.

-Santiago Martin's Future Gaming operated under a subsidiary in south India, as Martin Karnataka, and in the north-east, it opened Martin Sikkim Lottery. Martin was stated to be the master distributor of Sikkim lotteries.

-Future Gaming 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’.

-Santiago Martin was also the Consul General for Liberia, where he also set up a lottery industry, the Future Gaming website states.

-Santiago Martin is also the President of the All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries, a lobby of lottery distributors, stockists and agents.

-However, Future Gaming has had several legal run-ins. In 2022, Enforcement Directorate attached assets of lottery company Future Gaming & Hotel Services Private Limited and its various sub-distributors worth over ₹409 crore in a money laundering case

-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 ₹400 crore between 2014 and 2017.

-On 9 March 2024, ED conducted searches in the premises of Aadhav Arjun, son-in-law of 'lottery king' Santiago Martin in Tamil Nadu as part of a money laundering investigation linked to probe alleged illegal sand mining in the state

-Santiago Martin has been probed by the ED as part of another money laundering case that stems from a CBI case against him and others for alleged offences relating to the sale of lotteries of the Sikkim government.