The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a warning to millions of people who play the lottery following last night's $70 million draw. Fifteen individuals who were part of a syndicate took out the Division One.

Each syndicate member has pocketed $4.713 million following Tuesday night's massive win. The ATO has reminded them what happens when you have a sudden influx of money.

"You don’t need to declare your winnings to us, and you won’t pay tax on them," the tax office said. "But, any interest earned on the winnings will need to be included in your assessable income."

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If you chuck the winnings into a bank account with a decent interest rate, you could be pulling in a substantial amount of interest every month.

When it comes to tax time, the ATO will look at all that extra money, which could see you jump up a tax bracket.

Financial planner James Wrigley from First Financial told Yahoo Finance that you should seek out advice from professionals if you win big.

“The thing that catches out a lot of lotto winners, elite sports people and all the rest, is that they go spending the capital," he said.

Do you have a story? Email stew.perrie@yahooinc.com

"You do not want to go falling into the trap of spending the capital on cars and luxury goods … you want to push that money into a trust.”

Figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show around 30 per cent of Australian adults gamble on lotteries at least once a month.

Considering there are more than 20 million adults in the country, that‘s approximately six million getting involved in a monthly lottery draw.

More than a dozen strangers share in $70 million

The 15 syndicate members were all based in Queensland and didn't even know each other.

They all picked up their share in the syndicate at 15 different Golden Casket outlets across the Sunshine State.

A Bribie Island man had to be woken up to be told of the news.

“Bloody hell!” he said.

“Oh my god, that’s so good. This changes our lives. We’ve been trying to get our first home, so this will do that.

A Richlands man said he was looking at retiring now that he he's more than $4 million richer and initially thought the Lott was lying when they rang.

“I thought you were sh**-stirring me,” he laughed. “I just can’t believe it.

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