With the electoral bonds making the headlines, the name of the influential lottery magnate Santiago Martin of Future Gaming and Hotel Services PR has come to the fore. Called the ‘Lottery King’, Mr. Martin is said to have built his conglomerate from the lottery trade that once flourished and played a pivotal role in Tamil Nadu’s revenue and commerce. Against this backdrop, it would be interesting to look back at how the lottery trade held sway over the State before it was banned two decades ago.
“The State-sponsored sale of raffle or lottery tickets, then costing ₹1 each, kicked off in Tamil Nadu in the late 1960s during the government of C.N. Annadurai, with a catchy slogan vizhunthaal veetuku, vizhaavitaal naatuku (roughly, the common man as well as the State could benefit from the tickets), entailing a cash prize of up to ₹1 lakh. There used to be bumper draws, too, during festivals with a prize of up to ₹5 lakh,” recalls political commentator Durai Karuna.
