The Enforcement Directorate searched 22 locations across six states in November 2024 as part of a money laundering investigation into Santiago Martin, his relatives and employees, and seized Rs 12.41 crore in cash1. The searches followed a complaint by Meghalaya Police, which alleged that Future Gaming and Hotel Services Private Limited had "illegally" captured the lottery business in the state1.
On December 13, Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal passed a two-page order restraining the ED from accessing and copying content from the seized devices, and stayed ED summons issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to the extent they required people to appear for extraction of data from those devices1. The court also ordered that the Future Gaming case be heard alongside other connected cases, including petitions by Amazon India employees and the Newsclick case1.
"The Supreme Court order asked the ED 'not to access and copy' the contents of the mobile phone of Santiago Martin and any of the long list of electronic devices belonging to his company's employees."
The petition filed by Future Gaming lists 12 categories of seized devices, including 17 mobile phones, mostly with dual SIMs, computer hard disks with data dumps, pen drives and email backups taken from Martin, his family members and senior staff1. Lawyer Rohini Musa, who filed the 234-page petition, said the Supreme Court has not set a date for the restraint to be lifted1.
Separately, the ED has attached properties valued at Rs 622 crore linked to the Future Gaming group, and officials said they hold other significant material evidence in the case1. Future Gaming was the single largest donor of electoral bonds, purchasing Rs 1,368 crore in bonds between 2019 and 2024, with Trinamool Congress receiving Rs 542 crore, DMK Rs 503 crore, YSR Congress Rs 154 crore and the BJP Rs 100 crore1. The company says it has paid Rs 28,205 crore in GST from running state-operated lotteries1.
What it means for players
Future Gaming and Hotel Services runs state-operated lotteries, the kind sold through licensed agents and retail counters in several Indian states. The case concerns how the company won and held lottery business in Meghalaya, not the validity of tickets already sold. Players in states where the company operates lotteries have no reported change to ticket sales, prize claims or draw schedules from this order. The investigation is into alleged money laundering, and no finding against the company has been reported. Anyone holding tickets or pending prize claims should note that the sources do not describe any disruption to lottery operations.
What happens next
The Supreme Court has ordered the Future Gaming case to be heard with other connected cases on digital device seizures, but no hearing date is given in the sources1. The restraint on ED access to the seized devices remains in place with no stated end date1.
