Winston-Salem woman will buy a house with $768,201 jackpot win

February 12, 2026 Posted by NC Lottery at 10:42 AM

Vertella Gadberry of Winston-Salem knows exactly what she wants to do after she won a $768,201 digital instant jackpot on Saturday.

“I’m going to buy a house,” she said.

Gadberry said she enjoys the convenience of digital instants.

“I like that I can just sit at home and play the games,” she said.

Gadberry played for $3 and won the top jackpot in the new Wheel of Fortune game. The digital instant game features a progressive jackpot that can be won any time. The odds of that win are 1 in 16.6 million.

“I didn’t know if it was real,” Gadberry said. “I was in shock.”

She claimed her prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $553,183.

In the Wheel of Fortune digital instant game, a player can play from 50 cents to $30. After Gadberry won the jackpot, it restarted at $150,000 and has grown to over $395,000 as of Thursday morning.

Digital instant games are played exclusively online on the lottery’s website or on the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Sixty-five different games are available to play online now.

24 COMMENTS

2/24/2026 05:48 - Jeffrey M.

Wow as I look through the comments it's so sad how everyone is experiencing the same thing in these online digital games. These people are making billions of dollars in profits. You can spend $300 in these games and only betting 50¢ and be out of money less than a hour. Same payout when winning. These games are not random because the patterns in each hand are always the same. So is the payout. These games are not winnable at all.

2/23/2026 08:11 - Vertella G.

Thanks to everyone that congratulated me it was a blessing to me and my kids I'm still in shock

2/17/2026 05:22 - MARCELLOUS M.

I was thinking the exact thing…”Is this Real?!” You have proven that it is ‘

2/17/2026 05:04 - Scott M.

NC Lottery Are you not going to answer my question I asked about on February 13th ?NC Lottery
Apologies for the delay, Scott! You should see a response on your comment below. Please let us know if you have any other questions or if we can help with anything else.

2/16/2026 12:56 - Sandra B.

Can y'all answer how much she put in before she won that?NC Lottery
Hi, Sandra! We're not able to say how much the winner played before winning. Our social media team doesn't have access to that information. We can say that every play has the same odds of being a winning play - it just takes a lot of luck!

2/15/2026 05:44 - Donny S.

Nc lottery yall need to stop yall bs it makes no sense you can spend two hundred dollars and don’t even get a free spins or bonus and multiplayer all way fall when you have nothing I’ve been supporting yall a long time now it’s time for you guys to start supporting me back the most I won is three hundred dollars and I done spent thousands with yall. I can’t even win on those drawings you have every month and I spend thousands of points and never won smhNC Lottery
It definitely takes a lot of luck to be a big winner, Donny! We hope you'll only play if you're enjoying yourself, and we're crossing our fingers for you and wishing you lots of luck in the future.

2/15/2026 12:36 - Beverly R.

@William A. - I also have been having buzzard luck with scratch offs. I haven't spent anywhere near what you have but I used to win 5, 10, 20 ever so often and I buy a couple of tickets weekly. I went over 2 months and didn't win anything.

2/14/2026 03:43 - Angela P.

CONGRATULATIONS! HAPPY FOR YOU ENJOY YOUR WINNINGS

2/13/2026 09:01 - Scott M.

NC Lottery So why can’t you just do a deposit to our bank account for wins of like $500 ? I’m sure everyone would not want $2500 put into their lottery account if a player played 5 exact pick 3 draws on the same number and that number hits. How would that process work in such a case?NC Lottery
Hi, Scott! Each individual win under $600 is automatically deposited into your Online Play account for you to withdraw. If you purchased multiple Exact Pick 3 tickets online and won on each one, those wins would count as separate wins.

2/13/2026 05:48 - joanie m.

Congratulations What a way to start the New Year

2/13/2026 02:28 - Helen G.

That's awesome, congratulations to you!!

2/13/2026 01:15 - Sherry L.

awesome! i love that game

2/13/2026 08:44 - Mabeleen T.

Congratulations ??

2/13/2026 08:44 - Mabeleen T.

Congratulations ??

2/13/2026 08:23 - Gail R.

Super Congrats!Blessings!

2/13/2026 05:06 - Dornita I.

Congratulations.. I'm waiting for my day To come so I can go to headquarters.

2/12/2026 09:43 - William A.

This game is terrible and so is the NC lottery. I was talking to several people today about how bad scratch offs have gotten.I’m not the only one that has quit buying scratchers after buying tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not good the lottery profits are going to take a hit. I know it’s not the moderators fault but the NC lottery board members should be jailed for what they have done to players.

2/12/2026 09:33 - Abiva S.

Have you guys had any reports of this game glitching? I played earlier today and The same thing happened and then I switched to a different game and same thing especially when it goes into bonus mode and land on SuperSpin.NC Lottery
Hi, Abiva! We're sorry you're experiencing this issue. You can re-enter through our site or app and view the results and the replay of the game. Under “My Account”, select “Digital Instants History” under the “Online Play History” section. You'll see a list of the games you've played and you can click “View” to replay a game and view the results. If you need more help, please reach out to our Online Support team at https://nclottery.com/Help.

2/12/2026 07:50 - Trena N.

Baby don't spend it all cause they are coming back in taxes after you already paid. Trust me I know what I'm talking

2/12/2026 07:21 - christine g.

Congratulations

2/12/2026 04:09 - JoAnn L.

congrats

2/12/2026 03:47 - Berry B.

That is some great take home $$(553,183),WTG,plzs buy you something you can afford to keep up and not struggle to keep up!!Just saying

2/12/2026 02:36 - Steven B.

wonderful news,what a blessing.

2/12/2026 12:33 - Scott M.

How does a player know that they have won the jackpot in these online games ? Also how do you go about claiming your prize if you hit a jackpot? What’s the process of claiming?NC Lottery
Hi, Scott! If you're a lucky winner with Online Play, you'll receive an email notifying you of your win with instructions on how to claim your prize. Prizes under $600 will automatically be added to your account balance for you to withdraw. Prizes up to $99,999 can be claimed entirely online. Winners can start the claiming process of $100,000 or more online, but will need to visit Lottery HQ in Raleigh to complete the process. Hope this helps to clarify!

Winston-Salem woman will buy a house with $768,201 jackpot win

February 12, 2026 Posted by NC Lottery at 10:42 AM

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