SL-Mark: 
"Being beaten in a dice game, well it was simply that the die favoured the other player! i.e. luck."
"Beaten in a game of skill, however, then the loser can only critique themselves."

Those observations are a good start.

Being beaten in a dice game, one can all too easily conclude that the loss was purely a matter of bad luck, and that there was nothing in one's own play that deserved criticism.
Not all dice games are created equal.
Have you ever noticed that the frequency of claims of "unfair dice" tends to be inversely proportional to players' strength?

"Dice games require less thinking?"
Who would say such a thing?  On the contrary (at least in some dice games), in addition to strategic considerations, one must also calculate various probabilities.

wetware: "Dice games require less thinking?"

you are right for some dice games. most dice games have limited move options though, far less options than chess .. its also tougher to think ahead and build a plan with dice games .. at least thats beyond my capabilities .. i can 'feel' a few moves ahead with a probability that it might happen with dice games, but with a chess type (or pente or espionage) i can plan a bit more ahead which takes time

so dice games dont require less thinking .. but they certainly require less time per move (for me)