Lottery Firm Accounts for 74% of DMK, AIADMK Donations in 2025-26

Kolkata-based lottery firm Tiger Associates donated ₹260 crore to Tamil Nadu’s DMK and AIADMK during the 2025-26 financial year, more than doubling its contributions to the two parties from the previous year, according to disclosures submitted to the Election Commission.

The firm accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the ₹352.55 crore in combined contributions reported by the two parties during the financial year. Tiger Associates contributed ₹135 crore to the AIADMK and ₹125 crore to the DMK, compared with a combined ₹110 crore in 2024-25. Its total contributions to the two parties over the two financial years stood at ₹370 crore.

The AIADMK reported receiving six transfers totalling ₹135 crore from the firm, representing nearly 84 per cent of its total contributions of ₹161.36 crore. The DMK recorded 14 contributions worth ₹125 crore, accounting for more than 65 per cent of its total receipts of ₹191.19 crore.

Tiger Associates' designated partner, Subbayan Nagarajan, is a longtime associate of lottery magnate Santiago Martin. Corporate records also show that the two are partners in another firm. Martin's company, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, was the largest purchaser of electoral bonds before the Supreme Court scrapped the scheme in February 2024. Subsequent disclosures showed that Future Gaming had contributed ₹509 crore to the DMK through electoral bonds.

However, Tiger Associates and Future Gaming are separate entities, and the available disclosures do not establish that Martin personally financed Tiger Associates' political donations. Electoral trusts also contributed to both parties during 2025-26. Triumph Electoral Trust gave ₹15 crore to the DMK and ₹5 crore to the AIADMK, while Jaybharath Electoral Trust contributed ₹4 crore and ₹3 crore, respectively. Prudent Electoral Trust donated ₹25 crore to the DMK.

Together, Tiger Associates and the three trusts contributed ₹312 crore, or approximately 88.5 per cent of the parties' combined reported receipts. The DMK's total contributions declined from ₹365.82 crore in 2024-25 to ₹191.19 crore in 2025-26, despite the increase in donations from Tiger Associates. Several substantial contributions were reported in February and March, ahead of the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, in which actor-politician Vijay's TVK defeated the DMK.