Raleigh seafood restaurant owner catches $100,000 lottery prize

Seafood restaurant owner Annette Brown of Raleigh can scratch an item off her bucket list now after reeling in a $100,000 prize.

“Every time when we drive by the lottery building I would say, ‘We are going to get our picture taken there one day,’” Brown said. “It was on my bucket list.”

Brown, a 54-year-old owner of A’Nets Katch seafood restaurant in Knightdale, said she just received new contact lenses so she thought she misread the ticket.

“I figured I must not be seeing it right,” Brown said. “Reality still hasn’t hit yet.”

Brown bought her $30 Millionaire Maker ticket from the Food Lion on U.S. 64 East in Knightdale.

“I got an alert on my phone a couple hours before saying a North Carolina man won a million dollars at a Food Lion in Charlotte so it inspired me,” Brown said.

She said she was on the phone with her husband while she scratched her ticket.

“He was on his motorcycle and I told him, ‘Pull over, pull over, I think I just won $100,000,’” she said.

Brown collected her prize at lottery headquarters Friday and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $71,019.

“We always take care of our staff at the restaurant so we’ll do something for them,” Brown said.