ED attaches assets worth Rs 409.92 crore in lottery scam case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Saturday that it has provisionally attached movable assets worth Rs 409.92 crore in a lottery scam case involving Martin Santiago, better known as `Lottery King`.

"ED has provisionally attached movable assets worth Rs 409.92 crore under PMLA, 2002 in the case of Lottery scam against M/s. Future Gaming & Hotel Services Pvt. Ltd. & its various sub-distributors/area-distributors," the Enforcement Directorate said in a tweet.

Future Gaming & Hotel Services Private Limited is led by Santiago Martin who built his business empire by printing and selling lottery tickets.Having started out as a labourer in Yangon, Myanmar, he returned to India, starting his business in Tamil Nadu in 1988, and slowly expanded to Karnataka and Kerala.

But in 2003, Martin had to take his business outside Tamil Nadu, after the state government banned lotteries.The ED has attached various immovable and movable assets of Future Gaming & Hotel Services under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).