Just after the resignation of Government Lottery Office chairman Somchai Sujjapongse, Prayut Chan-ocha, Thailand’s General (Prime Minister of Thailand and head of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), a military junta that has the power to control the prime minister) has taken over the position as chairman the Thailand lottery. Chan-ocha used his position at the National Council for Peace and Order to fire the entire board for the Government Lottery Office and name himself chairman.

General Prayut will now create a new board which will then work to build the lottery back to order. A new fund will be created, titled the Government Lottery Fund for Social Development that will buy back lottery tickets that are unsaleable or unwanted from retailers. This will be used a tactic to discourage the retailers from selling the tickets above face value. The new fund will also begin research based on social gambling and try to find options for fighting addition as well as other anti-social behaviors.

Sujjapongse quit the position as chairman in April after not being able to combat the inflated prices of lottery ticket sales. The former chairman felt more stringent measures needed to be put in place to tackle the scale of the problem.