Ever since the news of Santiago Martin’s Future Gaming and Hotel Services purchasing electoral bonds worth Rs 1368 came out, it has become a topic of discussion in India. Now, it has come to light that Future Gaming and others’ petitions have influenced the plans of the Union Ministry to amend the Lottery Regulations Act 1998 and update the Lottery Regulation Rules 2010 seven years ago.
The Lottery Regulations Act 1998 says that earnings from lottery ticket sales should be credited to the State’s public account. Also, the Lottery Regulations Rules 2010 says that the states need to deduct tax before depositing the earnings in the right account.
The news of the delay in the lottery law reforms was revealed in the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and other investigations into malpractices related to the lottery. CAG had an audit in Sikkim, Mizoram, and Nagaland in which they found that the rules were violated, favoring Future Gaming and others.
This audit led the Ministry to rethink the rules and tighten them to prevent such violations. According to reports published in the Economic Times, Future Gaming and others caused some legal challenges for the Ministry, which caused this plan to be postponed.
In 2019, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a money laundering case against Future Gaming and on 2nd April 2022, it attached movable assets of the company worth around Rs 410 crore. Interestingly, Future Gaming purchased Rs 100 crores in electoral bonds on 7th April 2022.
According to reports published in the Business Standard, lottery-running states like Sikkim and Mizoram were informed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs about the violations in September 2023. However, the involvement of Future Gaming in lottery scams continues to come to light from different states.
Additionally, the Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed that Future Gaming bought electoral bonds of Rs 1368 crores and reportedly donated around Rs 509 crores to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The question is, why did a company that is allegedly violating rules donate a huge amount to political parties? Also, Do the political parties favor Future Gaming and others in order to get donations?
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