Pennsylvania LLC claims $5 million in Oklahoma Lottery scratch off prizes in single day, raising questions about ‘lottery tourism’

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A Pennsylvania company is raising eyebrows after raking in more than $5 million from Oklahoma Lottery scratch-offs in a single day this month, sparking questions about how groups of out-of-state players are targeting certain games.

It all started when a viewer emailed News 4, confused about how a Philadelphia-based company called Friendly Enterprise LLC managed to show up multiple times on the Oklahoma Lottery’s list of winners—all on the same day.

Records show they bought a batch of $100 ‘Limited Edition Deluxe Gold’ scratch-off tickets, which carried a $5 million top prize.

One of those cards hit the jackpot, earning them the $5 million prize.

But that wasn’t all.

The same company also claimed another ticket worth $10,000, along with 18 more valued at $1,000 each.

In total, Friendly Enterprise LLC collected $5,028,000 from 20 Deluxe Gold scratch-off tickets purchased on August 8.

The odds of that happening are 1 to 344,766,019,769,648,131,890,544,146,732,792,948,639,671,418,884,496,777,403,693,938,369,399.

To put that in perspective, it’s like rolling a die and landing on one 88 times in a row.

Or pulling the same card from a shuffled deck 40 times in a row.

Or flipping a coin 228 times and landing tails every time.

It turns out, this wasn’t the first big win for Friendly Enterprise.

Pennsylvania Lottery records show they won $10,000 and $1.2 million there last year, and another $125,000 this past June.

Several other Philadelphia-based LLCs have also reported big winnings.

One called Breezy Legs LLC claimed $1.3 million on a Pennsylvania scratch-off in June, and then a $1 million prize in Idaho just weeks later.

Idaho’s lottery commission said that group visited “every corner of Idaho looking for available tickets,” calling it “lottery tourism.”

Lottery expert Jared James said these groups specifically seek out games where the odds swing in their favor.

“These groups for lotto tourism do go after advantage play. They’re looking for games where their odds are drastically improved,” James told News 4.

James runs LottoEdge.com, which tracks games across different states.

He said groups compare live numbers—how many prizes are still available versus how many tickets are unsold.

In Oklahoma’s Deluxe Gold game, he said only 15% of tickets remained by early August, but both $5 million top prizes were still unclaimed.

James said that likely tipped off groups like Friendly Enterprise that their chances were unusually good.

“It doesn’t take a math degree to do this. It’s a really simple math issue,” James told News 4.

So who’s behind Friendly Enterprise?

According to Pennsylvania records, the LLC belongs to 78-year-old Shi-Tao Yeh, a retired statistician with a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.

News 4 spoke with his son, Andrew Yeh, who said he was stunned when told about the winnings.

“I was like, whoa, whoa, this is really odd,” Andrew Yeh told News 4.

Yeh said his father was skeptical he told him News 4 had reached out.

“He thinks I’m getting scammed and that I must be talking to a Nigerian prince,” Yeh said.

Yeh said his parents founded Friendly Enterprise in 1984 as a computer distribution business, but the company quickly went under and hasn’t been active since.

His mother has since passed away, and his father is now 78 and not in a position to travel from state to state buying lottery tickets.

So who actually cashed the winning ticket?

“Who cashed it, right?” Yeh said. “What was the ID that they provided? I don’t know how to get that information, but I think that’s the key, right?”

For now, that remains the $5 million question.

“We think there’s legitimately something fraudulent happening. That would be a very interesting mystery to solve,” he said.

Nobody with the Oklahoma Lottery Commission was available for an interview, but in a statement, a spokesperson told News 4:

“In Oklahoma, lottery prizes may be claimed by individuals as well as by legal entities such as trusts or LLCs. State statutes define ‘person’ broadly to include these entities, which are therefore permitted to make prize claims. All prizes are awarded in accordance with the law and game regulations, and every ticket sold helps maximize revenue in support of education in Oklahoma.”