ED raids, multiple run-ins with the law: 10 points on Future Gaming as Electoral Bond data shows ₹1,368 crore donation

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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. -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.