# Lottery-linked firm gave Rs 260 crore to DMK and AIADMK in 2025-26 2026-10-16T11:28:52+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Kolkata-based lottery firm Tiger Associates donated Rs 260 crore to the DMK and AIADMK in 2025-26, more than doubling its contributions from the previous financial year, according to Election Commission filings. The firm accounted for nearly 74 per cent of the combined Rs 352.55 crore the two parties reported. Tiger Associates gave Rs 135 crore to the AIADMK and Rs 125 crore to the DMK. It made up nearly 84 per cent of the AIADMK's total contributions and more than 65 per cent of the DMK's. The firm's designated partner is a long-time associate of lottery magnate Santiago Martin, whose company Future Gaming and Hotel Services was the largest purchaser of electoral bonds before the scheme was scrapped in 2024. Separately, three electoral trusts contributed Rs 52 crore to the two parties. The DMK's overall reported contributions fell from Rs 365.82 crore to Rs 191.19 crore year-on-year. Several substantial donations were made in February and March 2026, ahead of the Tamil Nadu assembly election, in which the DMK lost power to the TVK. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Both outlets present the same Election Commission filing figures almost verbatim, making the coverage structurally identical. The New Indian Express leads with the firm's amount, while India Today leads with the lottery king link, the distinction is purely presentational. Neither outlet adopts a critical or pro-government frame, there is no commentary on the scale of single-donor funding or the timing ahead of the election. The uniform straight-reporting treatment means the only analytical gap is the absence of any sourcing from the parties or the firm. The single watch item from both texts is the election outcome itself: the DMK lost power to the TVK in the 2026 Tamil Nadu polls. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - newindianexpress.com (neutral report) Leads with the firm amount, no framing slant - indiatoday.in (neutral report) Leads with the lottery king link, no framing slant This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: AIADMK, DMK, Election Commission, Future Gaming and Hotel Services, Santiago Martin, Tiger Associates Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/lottery-linked-firm-gave-rs-260-crore-to-dmk-and-aiadmk-in-2025-26/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/lottery-linked-firm-gave-rs-260-crore-to-dmk-and-aiadmk-in-2025-26/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/