I won’t do it.

I will not succumb to the temptation to buy a ticket for a chance to win a half-billion bucks. That’s what the Mega Million lottery jackpot has reached.

I’ve long opposed the lottery. It’s a sucker’s bet. It preys on those who want to spend what little disposable income they have on the chance of winning the Big One.

It won’t happen, folks. CNN talked about a study in which someone calculated the odds of winning the whole prize at 150 million to one. You have a greater chance of being struck by lightning or being eaten by a shark than you have of winning the prize.

Texas voters approved a lottery back in 1991. I opposed it editorially at the paper where I worked at the time. The voters didn’t heed our advice and approved it overwhelmingly. I think the margin was something like 65-35 percent. It was supposed to bring a windfall to state government. It didn’t do it. Texans quit playing the game when they realized their chances of winning the big dough were next to nil. The state has tweaked the lottery a few times over the years to give players a little bitter chance of winning something.

Some folks said then-Gov. Ann Richards promised the money raised by the lottery would go exclusively toward education. Gov. Richards never made that promise, but somehow the accusation stuck.

Now the state has joined the Mega Million stampede. The jackpot is huge. It’s tempting to play.

I won’t go there.

I’ll rely on this bit of history. I played the Texas Lottery when it first came into being back in the early 1990s. I bought a ticket in Beaumont for $1. I won $3. I was $2 to the good. I spent a buck on the next drawing. I lost, didn’t win a nickel.

So, with that I’m a dollar ahead.

Knock yourselves out, everyone.