Santiago Martin: The 'lottery king' who is India's top political donor - BBC News

Santiago Martin's colourful life is marked by political scandals and allegations of financial irregularities.

13 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, Santiago Martin's lottery empire stretches across several Indian statesBy Imran QureshiBBC HindiAn Indian man who made a fortune by selling lottery tickets is in the spotlight after he was revealed to be the top donor to political parties under a controversial funding scheme.

Santiago Martin's company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services Pvt. Ltd, bought electoral bonds worth 13.68bn rupees ($165m, £130m) between April 2019 and January 2024 under the scheme which allowed political donors to remain anonymous - until the Supreme Court recently scrapped the scheme and ordered their names to be published.

While donations under this scheme were not illegal, electoral bonds have been accused of making political funding more opaque. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which introduced the scheme was the biggest beneficiary, securing almost half of the bonds donated between 2018 and 2024.

Since then, it has emerged that of the bonds bought by Mr Martin's company, more than 5bn rupees went to the regional Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which governs the southern state of Tamil Nadu where Mr Martin started his business. It's not clear yet who the remaining recipients are.

A closer look at Mr Martin's life reveals a fascinating rags-to-riches story, as he went from working as a daily-wage labourer to running a lottery empire that stretches across several Indian states as well as the neighbouring country of Bhutan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-68604287

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