Santiago Martin: The 'Lottery King' and His Political Impact
There's a quiet tycoon behind India's biggest political donations—and most voters wouldn’t recognize him on the street. Santiago Martin, better known as the 'Lottery King', has reshaped political funding with moves as bold as his lottery empire. Martin’s company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt Ltd, managed to pump a staggering ₹1,368 crore into India's political ecosystem through electoral bonds between April 2019 and January 2024.
Those numbers alone are enough to turn heads in both business and political circles. But here's where it gets interesting: the money didn’t flow to just one side. Martin’s firm spread its largesse across a spectrum of parties. Trinamool Congress (TMC) got the lion’s share—₹540 crore. Right behind, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) took home ₹509 crore, while Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) received ₹149 crore. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which garnered the highest total amount from all donors, accepted ₹100 crore from Martin's coffers. The Indian National Congress, meanwhile, saw ₹50 crore from the same source. Even Sikkim’s regional players—Sikkim Krantikari Morcha and Sikkim Democratic Front—claimed a piece, with ₹11 crore and ₹5 crore, respectively.
This rollout of cash wasn’t a fling with only the national bigwigs—Martin’s ties run deep, especially in South Indian politics. He’s a known associate of DMK’s inner circle. Back in the day, Martin even put up money for M Karunanidhi’s cinematic dreams—funding projects like 'Ponnar Shankar'. Still, not every door opens for money; his well-known campaign to lift Tamil Nadu’s lottery ban hit a wall, even when DMK returned to power in 2006.
Electoral Bonds: The Anonymity Problem
Why does all this matter? It comes down to how political funding works in India. The electoral bond scheme, launched in 2017, was meant to bring 'transparency' but has instead allowed anonymous donations, making it difficult to track who’s fueling whom. Future Gaming, under Martin’s stewardship, snapped up more bonds than any other private company—and its donations alone accounted for more than 10 percent of all the electoral bond money cashed in by political parties during this period.
Just to put it in perspective, the total amount encashed by all political parties stood at ₹12,769 crore. The electoral bonds scheme has brought a flood of new cash into politics, and Martin’s firm rode that tide like no other. His donations crossed regional borders, influencing parties with wildly different ideologies. Meanwhile, the BJP still ruled at the top, collecting a total ₹6,060 crore from all bond donors combined, showing that money follows the seat of power as much as ideology.
Martin’s ability to shape political narratives isn't just about headlines and sums written in crores. It shows how power, business, and politics are intertwined in new and sometimes murky ways. As scrutiny grows around electoral bonds, expect his name—and the money it represents—to keep surfacing in India’s political debate.
