A METAL detectorist found a lopsided dice Romans fashioned 2,000 years ago to cheat when gambling.

Cleaner Stephen Pattison, 47, discovered the bronze artefact in a field during a pre-Christmas search with pals.

He thought it was a nut or bolt from farm machinery until he rubbed off some of the soil and saw dots.

History buff Stephen quickly realised it was a Roman dice — and when he tried it out he realised it was dodgy as certain numbers came up more often.

Stephen said: “The Romans used to play a game with it, which involved rolling a two or a six.

"They made the dice ever so slightly lopsided so that their chances of winning were increased.

“They were massively into gambling and whenever money’s involved there’s always cheating!”

Married Stephen, of Thirsk, North Yorks, came across the dice in Bagby in the county.

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Stephen, who has previously unearthed 13th century silver coins, added: “It’s just such a lovely find.”