load the dice

1. Rig the odds so there is little chance for another person to win; cheat. For example, There's no way we can win this contest; they've loaded the dice. This expression is also put as the dice are loaded, as in There's no point in trying; the dice are loaded. This expression alludes to adding weight to one side or another of dice so that they will always come up with certain numbers facing upward. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

The report looks at three key weather conditions — heat, dryness and wind — that, when combined, load the dice for wildfires to spread quickly and grow large, said Kaitlyn Trudeau, senior research associate with Climate Central.

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Both La Nina and climate change “load the dice for more extremes,” said University of Northern Illinois atmospheric scientist Victor Gensini, but he said it’s difficult to attribute any single event to La Nina.

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“This study underscores how climate change may load the dice to favor unwelcome infectious surprises,” Bernstein said in an email.

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“The dry, warm summer and the lack of moisture — they kind of load the dice or set the stage for wildfire but … you need a good weather event to crank up wildfires west of the Cascades and that never happened,” Boomgard-Zagrodnik said.

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“Nature creates the perfect conditions for fire, as long as people are there to start the fires. But then climate change, in a few different ways, seems to also load the dice toward more fire in the future.”

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