Syndicate hands in ticket Va. officials are checking lottery ticket's validity.

RICHMOND, Va. -- An Australian syndicate that tried to corner a $27 million Virginia Lottery game handed over a pink ticket bearing the winning numbers yesterday. But state officials here said they would not pay the prize until they investigate the ticket's validity.

The Lottery Department said last night that it would rule on the matter by the end of next week.

Lottery officials said that the International Lotto Fund, based in Melbourne, Australia, bought 5 million of the 7 million possible numerical combinations in the Feb. 15 game.

Just one ticket was printed with the winning numbers: 8, 11, 13, 15, 19 and 20.

Lottery regulations require that each lottery ticket be paid for at the lottery terminal. But the group's claim is in question because the tickets were paid for at the headquarters of Farm Fresh Inc. in Norfolk, and the winning ticket was issued at a store in nearby Chesapeake.