It actually happened in Virginia I think in the 90s, that the number of variations were rather low and a few dozens people bought enough tickets making sure that they had most likely the winning ticket, which they had.
The lottery company took them to court, saying that this is supposed to be a random game, but since there was nothing in the rulebook against buying all tickets, they were rewarded the prize.
Since this happened, I assume most lottery company have it in their rules that group ticket buying targeting all variations is not allowed...
OK, here is the story, they were an Australian syndicate:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
The number of combinations was 7 million but the pay off was 27 million. As long as the group can pull off buying all the tickets in time, it was a nobrainer...
"The biggest danger to a huge lottery investor would be having to split the prize with other winners who had picked the same numbers. Mr. Thorson said some popular combinations have as many as 1,000 ticket holders."
Another case in FL:
"The previous record may have been held by a computer engineer who bought 80,000 tickets in October from a Jacksonville, Fla., bar called Smitty's Place. The bar owner said the man made a profit but did not win the $94 million jackpot. People in Jacksonville still call him "The Phantom.""