load the dice

Idioms  

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]

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Example Sentences

Some researchers, however, are trying to load the dice.

From Economist • Mar. 15, 2018

He laughed, amused by his own determination to load the dice.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 27, 2017

No single weather event can be attributed to climate change, but a warming climate does load the dice in favor of heavier extreme precipitation events.

From New York Times • Aug. 10, 2010

But Author Wertenbaker does not always load the dice in favor of his heroes: the victory as often as not is with Mr. Peyton, only slightly-idealized figure of a good headmaster.

From Time Magazine Archive

Was not the notorious Dolfo Spini one of the new Eight prematurely elected, in order to load the dice against a man whose ruin had been determined on by the party in power?

From Romola by Eliot, George