Santiago Martin

Some Lesser Known Facts About Santiago Martin

• Santiago Martin started working as a labourer at the early age of 13 in Myanmar.

• In 1980s, he moved to Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, where he stayed with his sister. There, he started working at a tea stall.

• While working at the tea stall, he observed that people were fascinated by lottery tickets.

• In 1987, he opened five lottery shops in Coimbatore. Within a few years, he became one of the biggest lottery ticket sellers in Tamil Nadu.

• A year later, he started printing tickets and launched his own lottery business with several brands and offering higher prize than his competitors.

• In 2003, when the lottery was banned in Tamil Nadu, he started his business in Karnataka, Punjab, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, and several northeastern states.

• He has also established his business in Bhutan and Nepal. According to some reports, he is the only distributor of lottery tickets in the countries.

• In 2011, he produced the Tamil film ‘Ilaignan,’ written by M. Karunanidhi, the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. The film did not perform well at the box office.

• While he was in jail, his wife Leema became the state deputy general secretary of Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi.

  

• According to various reports, Tamil Nadu’s advocate general P.S. Raman appeared for Martin in a case in Kerala. The Tamil Nadu Government said that it was in his sole interest to advocate for him but after the Kerala Government sent a letter to Karunanidhi, Raman was stopped from appearing in support of Martin.

• In 2012, on his silver jubilee wedding anniversary, he and his family received the apostolic blessing of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI.

• In 2015, his son, Charles Jose Martin joined the BJP in the presence of the then organising secretary Ram Madhav in Delhi.

• In 2017, his company, Future Gaming, formerly Martin Lottery Agencies, paid Rs. 6,000 crore in GST to the West Bengal government.

• The Income Tax Department interrogated one of the Martin’s cashiers named Palanisamy, during a search operation at Martin’s company in 2019. A few days later, Palanisamy was found dead in a waterbody after which his son , Rohin Kumar filed a complaint with Karamadai police against the detectives of Income Tax Department for instigating his father to suicide.  ^[7]The Times of India

• On 29 December 2020, Martin foundation in collaboration with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam International Foundation, House of Kalam, Rameshwaram, and Space Zone India, Chennai, organised an awareness programme on satellite technology for the students of government schools. His foundation also announced to sponsor 500 students from government schools across India for designing the Femto Satellite.

• In 2024, the Election Commission announced that DMK received Rs. 509 crore through electoral bonds by Martin’s company Future Gaming and Hotel Services. He bought Rs. 1,368 crore of the bonds between April 2019 and January 2024 accounting for 11 per cent of the total electoral bonds sold between 2019-2024.

•  He has been appointed as the “Consul General for the Republic of Liberia,” where contributed in improving the growth of Liberian economy by expanding the lottery industry in the country.

• He serves as the President of the All India Federation of Lottery Trade and Allied Industries.

• According to his company website, he is one of the highest-income taxpayers in India.

• He also owns Martin Homeopathy Medical College and Hospital near Coimbatore, SS Music, a television music channel, M and C Property Development, Martin Nanthavanam apartments, and Leema Real Estate Private Limited.

• His company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services that works in the field of Online Gaming & Casinos and Sports Betting, has given employment to over 1,000 employees across 13 states including Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Sikkim, and West Bengal. In Nagaland and Sikkim, Martin’s company is the sole distributor of lottery.

• Santiago Martin is also known for his philanthropic activities. In 2001, he founded the Martin Charitable Trust which provides healthcare support, food relief programs, emergency funds, and educational funds for the betterment of underprivileged people.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Martin Charitable Trust donated COVID-19 relief material worth Rs. 3 Crores to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund (CMPRF).

  

• The Martin Foundation donated Rs. 5 crore to the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the regions affected by the Gaja cyclone. He also made contributions during the Cyclone Vardah (2016) and the Chennai floods (2015).