The promise of Grand Theft Auto: Online is an intoxicating one. GTAV’s world remains one of, if not the most remarkable in gaming history, and the idea that you and a group of friends can team up and wreak havoc upon that world seems too good to be true.
To some extent, it is too good to be true. GTAO suffers from a myriad of technical issues and limitations, including ridiculous loading times, crashes, game-breaking glitches, and terrible anti-cheat. It’s like a complicated, unwieldy machine with hundreds of unseen components. If it fails, your only two options are to start from scratch, or give up.
But when it all comes together, when you finally find your friends after five minutes of loading screens and ten minutes of yelling at each other on Discord to “go here”, the experience is unparalleled. The first few hours we spent roaming the world were violent co-op magic, like a depraved, extravagant Scorcese montage with a body count that would turn eyes at the ICJ. We did missions, did drugs, blew things up, got haircuts, bought clothes, bought cars, stole cars, shot police, shot pedestrians, and of course, shot each other. Being homebound due to Covid, our at-first daily, then weekly GTA sessions kept us connected, the first time a game had done so since our short-lived Minecraft phase in March of last year.
But yesterday, as we failed the same section of the Diamond Casino Heist for about the twentieth time, one of my friends broke the silence. “Is anyone having fun?”
Several months ago, I posted a rant on this subreddit about the singleplayer, bemoaning its weak story, poor gunplay, unnoticeable progression, and surprisingly empty open-world. I stand by what I wrote, perhaps even more so now that I see how much more compelling GTAV could have been if it had included online’s heists, vehicles, and properties as DLC.
That said, online is not without fault. While there’s a massive catalogue of things to buy, the grinding necessary to purchase these things is awful, making even Cookie Clicker feel productive. GamesRadar says the Heists, which themselves require expensive properties and a substantial initial investment to initiate, net you about 400k an hour, which isn’t all that much considering how much vehicles and properties cost.
We realized early on that the disparity between GTAO’s prices and its payouts was a manufactured pain point, the remedy being the game’s overpriced Shark Cards. Rather than dig out our wallets, we abided by GTA’s longstanding moral tradition and hacked ourselves enough money to buy every car, every property, and every weapon in the game. But even without the grind to worry about, GTAO had no qualms with wasting our time. The loading screens are the most obvious example of this, but these are, I believe, unavoidable given the scope of what you’re loading into. Where it’s less forgivable is in the tedious minutiae and the absence of systems that should be present.
The more we played, the more frustrated I became. Why can I only fast travel to my properties as a CEO? Why can’t I claim all destroyed vehicles at once? Why can’t I skip these stupidly long cutscenes? Why do I have to wait to spawn in a vehicle? In a way, it makes the same mistake as its singleplayer counterpart. Though it has incredible setpieces that you won’t find in any other game, the vast majority of your time is spent preparing for them.
I don’t believe games should have infinite longevity, so I don’t fault GTAO for losing its sheen after eighty-some hours. Overall, I had a good time. Tearing through hordes of cops in a pink Insurgent. The terrific Pacific Standard Heist. Getting picked up by my friend in a disgusting anime car that he claimed wasn’t his. Being repeatedly stalked and kidnapped over the course of several weeks by a hacker named “JOE BIDEN” who’d drive me around the map at light speed and drop boats on my head as I’d try to flee. And above all, having the opportunity to hang out with my friends during a pandemic. These are all experiences I’ll remember.
The hours I spent in loading screens, driving from one side of the map to the other for the hundredth time, and listening to Lester talk about skinny dipping? I’ll remember those too, though nowhere near as fondly.

UPDATE: because of demands, I also added Jimmy as I have completely forgotten to mention him
Here are my stereotypes for each heister player you can meet
Dallas: Usually he is a newbie who just got into this game if he is without infamy, he is at 80% new player but if he has infamy, then he is a veteran player or hacker.
Chains, Houston and Wolf = Super rare picks even more than Dallas if you see one of these guys he is a god player or newbie.
Bodhi: on 90% it's a newbie and probably noob + he is 14-16 yrs old because these people pick bodhi how cool looking he is and other crap its underaged kids pick they are often bad and they are rude usually bodhi players screw up heists or they rage quit super rarely you will encounter a good bodhi player
Sydney: the female version of Bodhi mostly casual players often girls these people are crazy as she is in stealth they massacre civilians for no reason and often they fuck up by doing crazy shit like throwing Molotov to down themselves or setting their health at 10 they are fun but don't expect them to get their shit done.
Rust: Rare pick honestly most rust players are often quiet they say little he is often picked by Russians or people who like cool quiet-looking dude stereotype they are decent they can fuck up but their screw-ups are them being reckless as rust players are often solo wolves
Scarface: People who like scarface are like him furious ruthless badass who swears fuck a lot but with a good heart and loyalty to his friends they are often leading heists and prefer doing everything I loud yet they don't mind the stealth competence of these people is good they are fine to talk with and you can rely on them
Jiro: used to be weebs favourite pick back before joy was added Jiro players were at 90% weebs 9% Asians and 1% people who like Japanese culture after Joy being added this character is now picked by people who love asians culture and actual asians as weebs character is now Joy they are competent however their patience is limited and they leave heists if you keep restarting them.
Hoxton: somehow a popular pick he is mostly picked by people who played the first payday game has cool voice lines and after he got added into payday 2, he buried Houston completely into his shadow Hoxton players are long time veterans they know how to get their shit done and they are cool to talk with and can even give good advice or lead heists.
John Wick: Same as bodhi however these people's competence is mediocre they can pull off easy heists but once you hit complex heists like the diamond or golden casino, they are becoming a burden for the rest of the team I haven't so far met a good John Wick player.
Clover: at 90% it's a girl or 10% it's someone with a mega clover mask who attended paydaycon back in 2016 Clover players are wholesome to talk with their skills aren't great like Hoxton players but they can make their shit done if someone tells them what to do.
Bonnie: Rare pick Bonnie players show up help you with the heist and then they vanish I can't tell much about these players I have barely encountered them they don't seem to talk but they have exceptional skills from what I have seen.
Joy: weebs waifu character I mean she is a Japanese gamer girl that's something that turns them on unfortunately these people are filthy casuals and you will only encounter them in normal to Overkill heists very very rarely on mayhem they dislike DW and DS for it being too hard (even DW is still easy compared to DS)
Jacket: Same like John wick and Bodhi often it's an underaged person who finds him super cool, and he is a hotline Miami fan often rude or he is quiet and is often doing objectives everyone forgets to do they love to join DS heists with small level and leech on you or screw up your heist I have mixed feelings about jacket players but again you can be top tier jacket player.
Sokol: Rust and Sokol are russians most picked characters Sokol players are often cool russians tho, unlike rust who won't say a single word Sokol players are elite Russians players if he is bad then you met a Russian who is new and can't speak well english.
Sangress: I would say he is also underaged teens favorite pick, but those people are cool as they are often players from Latin America and you can tell these people are wild like Sydney I had a good experience with them their skills vary from bad to good but that's the magic about them.
Ethan/Ela: Just remove these characters nobody plays them lmao
Duke: often James Bond fans because Duke is literally James Bond who robs people and does evil stuff he is cool as a character and his players often question you about your infamy level, mods they also often kick people or they complain.
Jimmy: these players are what I would call mostly veterans who bitch about other people loadouts and builds, they demand others to do what they are telling them to do and they know every exploits in-game; they are using million mods and they finished almost every heist on DSOD both loud and stealth, they also take lore seriously as they often keep mentioning how Jimmy is cool and bla, bla if you meet one then high chances are he is going to be on your nerves if you know what you are doing a welcoming party if you are a newbie or super rarely you will encounter a complete newbie who just picked jimmy because he is a free character you will see Jimmy often.

So some people on this sub seem to think you need to do all the optional preps when doing the casino heist, but this is actually a HUGE waste of time when trying to grind. You would make much more money for your time if you just skipped these preps, ran the heist, and then started a new one. TheProfessional on youtube explains it in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QcKrudZoc
For aggressive approach, you only need duggan shipments and boring machine. Don't bother with patrol routes, you don't need to sneak around anyone. If guards are within a certain range they will show on your map even without patrol routes. Keycards only if you can't hack, or if you think you might fail while exiting casino, but theres only 1 door that uses it so if you're experienced you don't need them. EDIT: you don't need boring machine to access sewers, it is always available. Not sure why rockstar made that mission.
For Big Con, as long as you have the 54 playing cards, YOU DON'T NEED ANY OPTIONAL PREPS. I can't believe there are people here that think you need duggan shipments for big con, when you literally don't shoot anybody while inside the casino. Whats the point of taking their armor and weapons if you don't shoot them, or get shot by them? You shouldn't be getting detected on gruppe sechs, and if you're not doing gruppe sechs then you're not being time efficient anyway.. You don't need patrol routes because when escaping there are only 2 guards that you need to take out, then 1 to avoid, and they are always in the same hallways. Also only 1 door to hack while escaping, don't need keycard.
SnS is the method that benefits the most from optionals. Keycards are actually useful because there are multiple doors, and duggan shipments can be handy as well so you can take out guards from afar with your gun. Patrol routes are good if you don't know the guards' usual spots, same with security intel for cameras, but they're not necessary once you learn where they are.
Also don't do power drills, you shouldn't have that much time if you choose the minimal amount of people and the appropriate hacker.
For example, for art you should always run as a group of 2, with a cheap hacker like Yohan (5%). You have enough time to clear the vault, and save money since the hacker takes a smaller cut.
For gold, you can run with 2 people if you hack fast/get lucky with the layout, but if running with 3 you can use a cheap hacker as well.
If you get cash on scope out, just call lester and cancel heist. It takes the longest to loot and is worth the least. The extra profit you get from art/gold is worth paying startup cost multiple times over.
This week also has diamonds. You need 3 people to clear the vault, and paige gives more than enough time. I haven't tested it with cheaper hackers but it might work.

Diamond Casino Guide:
So you decided that you wanna rob a casino, great! The Diamond Casino Heist is one of the best ways to earn money, but you're wondering, how do I get started? Well you're in luck! This guide is going to teach you the ways to get the best out of the Diamond Casino Heist!
Step 1: Arcade
Alright to get started, you’re going to have to own an arcade. Now, it may seem better to go for the arcades on the top of the map to save yourself some cash, however this will make all the preps much harder, as most of them take place in LS or Sandy Shores.
The best arcade locations are 8-bit ($2,530,000, located in Vinewood) and Videogeddon ($1,875,000, La Mesa). When buying your arcade, none of the upgrades are necessary, as most of them are cosmetic. You’ll have to complete a quick arcade setup mission to access the basement where the diamond casino heist planning board is located.
Step 1.5: Arcade Income
While this isn’t related to the diamond casino heist, I thought I would put this in there. The arcade generates income based on how many games you have, going up to 5k per in-game day (48 min). The game doesn't matter, so you can just buy the cheapest one (Monkey’s Paradise, $90,000) and fill up your arcade with it.
Step 2: Scope out casino
After you’ve finished watching Lester scribble a big mess over the whiteboard, you’ll be able to start the casino heist. Normally, you’ll have to pay a setup cost of 25k, but since it’s your first time doing it, it’ll be free. After you’ve confirmed that you want to start the casino heist, you’ll need to finish the scope out mission. For the scope out mission, you’ll need to take a variety of pictures for lester in order to unlock entrances for the heist. A full guide is linked here but I’ll sum up the most important ones.

• Staff Lobby: This entrance is arguably the best entrance for the Silent and Sneaky approach. It gives you easy access to the control room where you can get the daily vault easily. It is also the best exit for most approaches as not many guards patrol it. The staff lobby should be around the back of the casino, and should look like a white door behind some yellow bollards.
• Security Tunnel: By scoping out this entrance, it gives you the ability to enter the casino as a Gruppe Sechs team for the Big Con. This entrance is the best if not one of the best approaches to the casino heist. The disguise will allow you to go straight to the vault undetected and back up, however you will be detected when going back out of the casino on the casino access floor, so I would suggest getting some exit disguises to make your escape easier. The security tunnel should look like a big metal garage door with a security camera watching over it under the racetrack.
• Sewers: The sewers allow you to burrow down right into the vault access floor giving you easy access as you are right next to the vault mantrap. The sewer exit, however, is only available in the aggressive approach.
• Roof Terrace: At first glance, the roof terrace may seem like a horrible entrance/exit, however as it turns out, the roof terrace is actually a contender for one of the best aggressive exits. By taking the roof terrace, you can shoot down the guards at the racetrack while them not being able to shoot back and then parachute down.

You’ll only need to do this mission once, and it will be completed for all future casino heists.
Step 3: Vault Contents
The vault contents mission is pretty easy. You’ll be given the rough location of a duggan security guard, once you find him, you can either hack him, which can take some time but you won’t get the cops on you if you do it right, or you can kill him and grab the phone, which will save you some time but you’ll need to lose the cops before you can enter the casino.
After you’ve entered the casino, you’ll need to bring out the sightseer app on your phone to find a wifi signal. After you’ve located the wifi signal, you’ll need to figure out the vault contents. Beware that you only have a limited time to do this (2 min).
Since it’s probably your first time, I would recommend that you go through every camera to scope out each POI. The target will be cash since it’s your first time, which has a payout of 2.1 mil on normal. The first time will always be cash (payout of $2,115,000 on normal), but if it’s not your first time, the targets can be either cash, artwork (payout of $2,350,000 on normal) or gold (payout of $2,585,000 on normal).
There is a 4th target, which is diamonds (payout of $3,257,100 on normal) however this vault content is only available for special occasions and has been removed from the vault contents.
If you do the heist on hard by doing the same approach after you’ve done another one, the payout will be 10% larger. If you’ve completed all 3 approaches to the heist, you can cancel the heist which can be helpful if you’ve got a bad target. Link to this is here.
Step 4: Selecting your approach
Once you’ve finished the vault contents mission, you’ll be able to select your approach.
There are 3 approaches to the diamond casino heist. Silent and Sneaky, The Big Con and Aggressive.
For beginners, I would recommend alternating between Big Con and Aggressive, because those are the easiest ones. For Big Con, choose the Gruppe Sechs disguise for the easiest entry. Aggressive is good for newer players however it does end up in a lot of money loss. After you’ve got the gist of it, alternate to doing Silent and Sneaky in place of aggressive for a bigger payout.
Step 5: Selecting your support crew
After you’ve selected your approach, you’ll need to select your support crew before you can do any of the prep missions.
Selecting your support crew is very simple. You’ll need a gunman to source guns, a driver to source cars and a hacker to delay the nerve agent inside the vault.
Selecting your support crew depends on the approach and target in the vault. For Big Con, SnS, any any target EXCEPT for art, you’ll want the worst gunman (Karl Abolaji, take his Micro SMG on big con, heavy revolver on aggressive and on SnS the choice is up to you), the worst driver (Karim Denz, take his sentinel classic) and the best hacker available to you, for most people, this will be Paige Harris (unlocked when the terrorbyte is purchased, gives 3:25 in the vault when undetected and 2:23 detected).
For aggressive, you’ll still want to have the worst driver and best hacker, however the gunman is up to you since you’ll be using guns a lot. I normally go with Charlie Reed (unlocked when purchasing a hangar), he takes a 7% cut (2% more than Karl) and gives you an assault smg, however you can get by with Karl, as every gunman gives you a SMG to go along with another weapon, which is still a perfectly fine weapon.
For Big Con, SnS and the target is Art, if you and your heist partner can both hack very well, you can get by with Yohan Blair (takes a 5% cut and gives you 2:51 in the vault if you are undetected and 2:01 if you are).
Step 5.5: Secret heist crew members
There are 2 hidden heist crew members that can’t be unlocked by purchasing a business like most heist crew members. There 2 are Patrick McReary and Avi Schwartzman. Patrick McReary is a gunman who takes an 8% cut and gives the choice a Combat MG or an Assault Shotgun in aggressive. Avi Schwartzman is a hacker that takes a 10% cut and gives 3:30 undetected in the vault and gives 2:22 if you are detected. To unlock Patrick, he spawns as a random event around the map. He spawns in a police car that you will need to hijack. A guide is linked here. To unlock Avi, you’ll need to destroy 50 signal jammers that are located around the map. A guide is linked here.
Step 6: Prep Missions
Now that you’ve selected your support crew, you’ll be presented with a plethora of prep missions. Some mandatory and some optional. To complete these missions, I suggest that you use a Kuruma, Buzzard or Oppressor Mk2 to make your life easier. In some prep missions, you will not be able to call lester, so be prepared. All of the missions can be done solo but it makes it easier if you have a friend with you to help you out.
Now onto the optional prep missions. Optional prep missions, are, as the name suggests, optional. The optional prep you should do depends on the approach. If you own a penthouse and have completed all of the missions, you will gain access to the security intel mission. It’s very easy to complete and you will only need to do it once. A nice trick is that the gauntlet actually spawns when you start the mission, not when the cutscene is triggered, so you can just shoot the driver and take the gauntlet. A guide will be linked below.
Let’s start with Silent and Sneaky. For Silent and Sneaky, the optional prep missions depend on your skill level. If you’re an experienced player, you don’t need to do much, only level 2 security passes. Power drills you can do if you think you have enough time. However if you are a very new player, I’d recommend that you do patrol routes, duggan shipments (you only need to destroy 3 to get rid of their bulletproof helmets), level 2 security passes, emp device and infiltration suits and power drills if you think you have enough time. If you do all these, the heist should be a breeze.
Going onto the Big Con, if you’re doing Gruppe Sechs, you don't need to do much. You only need to go through one door if you exit out the staff door, so you can decide if you want to do level 2 security passes or not. Patrol routes do make things easier, however are not necessary. Again, only do power drills if you think you have enough time. Make sure you do exit disguises. Noose and firefighter are exactly the same, so do firefighters since it has the easier mission.
For aggressive, again, patrol routes make it easier, but are never necessary. Make sure to do duggan shipments. You can solo it, but it will be much easier with another person. If you don’t get them all you can just close the game and you’ll be able to do the mission again. Reinforced armour allows you to take more damage, so I would recommend it even if it makes you slower. Be sure to also do boring machine as it allows you to enter through the sewers. Make sure to also do level 2 security passes unless you really like hacking doors.
Step 7: Finding people to play with
Now that you’ve completed all your required prep missions, you need some people to play with. If you don’t have any friends to play with, I recommend checking out HeistTeams or the GTAO Discord LFG Channels to find people to play with. Make sure to have good communication between your teammates otherwise the heist will be in chaos.
Step 8: Completing the heist
Now that you’ve got a solid heist crew waiting to grab all of that sweet loot out of the casino’s vault, you’ll be able to start the heist. If you're doing aggressive, the plan is pretty simple, shoot your way in, grab the loot, then shoot your way out. The easiest entry for aggressive is sewers, and the easiest exit is the eastern roof terrace. If you exit through the staff lobby, you’ll get shot a ton when going over the racetrack, however if you exit through the roof terrace, you can shoot the guys behind the stones on the racetrack then safely parachute down.
For The Big Con, I’m going to assume you’re doing the Gruppe Sechs approach. By doing the Gruppe Sechs approach, you can pretty much waltz into the vault and back out of it, just be careful that this has some limitations. When going back up the stairwell/elevator to the casino access floor, the guards will have checked the vault and know it’s been robbed, so you disguise ain't gonna work anymore. I strongly suggest getting exit disguises, as they will greatly help your escape. The easiest exit for this is the staff lobby.
For SnS, I’m not really going to go into too much detail here because there’s a full video linked below. What I will talk about is when to use the emp (If you did the prep mission). I recommend emp’ing when you’re at the vault access floor, allowing you to waltz into the mantrap, or when you're coming back up to the casino access floor and are in the mantrap.. Be warned that if you decide to get the daily vault when you trigger the emp, the emp’s timer will run out before you can get to your exit, so plan ahead. The easiest entrance for this is the staff lobby and the easiest exit is also the staff lobby.
Tips and tricks to complete the heist

• If you are disguised, do not bump into any of the guards. They will detect you and start shooting.
• In the control room there is a button that you can press to open the door to the daily vault. One person has to hold the button while the other goes in and grabs the cash. This can be done with any approach.
• Running and jumping is faster than just running normally, use this to your advantage while inside the vault.
• Running in first person is actually faster than 3rd, so use this to your advantage when trying to knock out guards.
• Don’t bother trying to escape the cops by hiding in an alley or something, either take your car into the sewers down by the LS river or take the heli that usually spawns on top of the police station. The sewers will result in you losing less money, however will be much slower. I will link both of these methods below in the useful media section.
• Normally when exiting the casino from the staff lobby without any disguise, you’ll need to knock out a guard to the left of the swat fan to your right, before hugging the race track wall and then dropping down. I have found that sometimes if you run, the guard will hear you and detect you, causing you to get shot at. To prevent this, walk up to him making sure you stay out of his FOV then knock him out.
• You walk much faster in the casino if you are in first person, making the vault contents mission much easier.
• In prep missions, you can change any accessory (glasses, hat, ect.) to lose 1 star which is useful on missions where you can’t call Lester to remove your wanted level.
• On some missions, you can lose the cops by entering your Terrorbyte/MOC/Avenger.
• On some missions, you can lose the cops if you accept Lester’s apartment heist invite. This only works if you have a heist active.
• In the hacking device mission where you have to infiltrate the FIB building, you walk a lot faster if you aim down sights on any gun, however if you go into any agent’s LOS you will get detected instantly, so be careful when using this trick.
• You can upgrade your getaway vehicles in the arcade by getting in them and pressing the button showed on the prompt that appears on the top left.

Useful media

• Practice casino fingerprint hacking
• Easiest way to complete Silent and Sneaky
• Casino Heist Big Con Gruppe Sechs
• Casino Heist Aggressive Sewer Entrance
• How to make the most money out of the Diamond Casino Heist
• Casino Heist Sewer Escape
• Casino Heist Heli Escape
• Security Intel

Credits
Special thanks to:
u/Pepperooney_ for adding a bunch of info on the tips and tricks section
u/what_it_dooo for suggesting the roof terrace and the hacking device trick

I see players asking on reddit and discord servers about what is the best approach, target etc. to the casino heist for a single person to get maximum final cut out of all casino heist approaches. So here is a little guide to the players who are confused by the same.
**Heist Approach**: *Silent and Sneaky* (controversial ik, but please keep on reading)
**Vault target**: *Diamonds* (2 days left, hurry up!!)
**Crew**: Driver: *Karim Denz* ; Gunman: *Karl Abolaji* ; Hacker: *Paige Harris*
**Number of players required**: *3* (including host)
**Heist difficulty** : *Hard*
Ok now that we are all set with the pre-requisites, let's get down to the explaining.
After all of the set-up, your Heist take should be around **$2,750,000**. In order to get the maximum take for host, set your cut to 70% and the other 2 players as 15% each. 70% should amount to $1,925,000 for the host + extra bonuses :) Keep on reading.
We are aiming for the elite challenge to get that sweet 100k, so in order to do that, we have to plan out our heist finale to get the elite + some nifty little cash.
1) Start the heist as usual, disabling cameras and guards and stuff. Get the daily when going thru the control room as you usually do. One player takes the daily vault, the other two clean out the vault floor during the same time. *Efficiency 100*
2) It's a bonus if all 3 players are good hackers (2 of them can also do it easy). Hack all doors and grab loot as you usually do. You should get full loot easily in the stipulated time (If u don't, not being mean but you need to be better at hacking).
3) After going through the mantrap, when you are the end of the mantrap, turn on EMP and buzz through. Now, DON'T TAKE ON DAILY VAULT THIS TIME. Just waltz through and go the exit.
4) Go through the usual shit and take on Heli. Do not even think of sewers. (You might lose some cash here but it ain't much). You have already made up for it :)
5) And the heist finale is done!!
If everything went smoothly, you as host should get around *$1,925,000 + Elite bonus of $100,000 + 0.7x0.76x(Your daily vault loot)**
**Your final heist take is $2,025,000+ percentage cut of daily**
As for the approach, I agree while bigcon g6 is easier than Sns, if you are experienced you can take advantage of the daily vault too! As for new players, take the g6 approach and your final take will be minus the daily vault loot.
Thank You for reading this guide and I hope you found this helpful!!. If you did, please upvote for others to see. Moderators if you are seeing this, please consider pinning this post if you found it useful as well.
Go spend that fat cash on strip clubs I guess lol....Cya!!

Hi i know this may be in the wrong sub but my posts get auto-removed in other ones but here goes anyway I recently saved up for an arcade to do the casino heist but have nobody to do it with. I don’t currently know what cut would be with crew costs (the hacker, gunman, etc.) already in. I’ll edit that in in maybe 10 minutes. Preferably just looking 1 person to Maximize money. Also it would nice if we were in somewhere near the same time zone too maybe give or take like 4 hours or so. Anyway my username is Lola 2180. Edit: Oh I guess I forgot to say I’m the PST time zone. Basically most of the west coast United States.

This update is REALLY COOL! My first impressions were fun! Looking at the island was great and the new vehicles are great! (I need that Winky and new Sanchez!) But this whole update PISSES ME OFF! Everything about this heist annoys me because everything is inconvenient. Want examples? ILL GIVE EM TO YA!
The submarine is the worst idea for a heist location. What was the point of this thing? Not the submarine because its cool! But we dont really use it for the heist. This thing is so awful to with its inconvenience that you need to pay 1.8 mil to get a helicopter to make you less pissed off that you cant park your helicopter or Oppressor unless you want lose it from the ocean. Unless you want to just get in real quick and set up the heist prep than get out. Than you have a lower chance of your vehicle drowning itself. This gets real old REAL FAST!
And than you got the scouting missions! LOTS of running and lots of trying to hide in a game that doesnt have good hiding mechanics, more chances of getting annoyed!
The setups are alright, but even they can get annoying because of how you gotta rely on your sparrow, or use 2 minutes of anger to finding a road, calling your mechanic for whatever vehicle is needed. Pray to god he won't say "Cant get to ya road! BYE CALL AGAIN IN 5 SECONDS!!" and after you collect the heist prep, you realized, "Oh man! I need the sparrow to get in my submarine! So you end up needing to call it in but realised again, "Oh no! I need to return it before I can spawn it in front of me!" Another 5 seconds wasted with an even more angry and annoyed experience. Than you go to the sub and go inside it and look at a 10-15 second CINAMATIC loading screen EVERYTIME YOU GO IN OR OUT WITH YOUR SPARROW. And than repeat it until you make it less annoying.
And the heist itself just feels really dumb and unplanned. Like why do I NEED TO FIND BOLT CUTTERS if I can just BRING THEM WITH ME! More inconvenience! Like we're gonna use em no matter what, so having room is kinda stupid if we're gonna pick them up. Same thing with grappling hooks! You go to the island almost unprepared to get the job done. Its like going to do casino heist and Lester tells you "If you want to open any of the security doors, you gotta keep killing random guards to find it and hope its the right key! If not you gotta waste alot of time and money and have alot of frustrations, by the way I need my 80%!" I did the heist and noticed that every door is locked and needs a key. And certain doors need certain keys.
They did EVERYTHING right in Casino heist because too me it wasn't that bad. Things made sense and it felt like we were actually prepared. You don't see any professional high-stakes heist when a robber says to himself. "Oh no a fence! Im just gonna go look around this place to find some bolt cutters... It wasnt a dumb move not bringing em with me from start because I got space!"
P.S. I really liked having a npc crew, I really wanted to have Avi and Yohan Blair as a hacker or the Denzinator as a driver. I really loved that aspect in the Casino Heist

I have a Casino Heist, Silent & Sneaky, hard and with Gold in the safe. What hacker I should choose if I wanna do it with one more player?

This is mostly written in the GTA Online perspective, though it has crossover into RDR Online as well.
To bring everyone up to speed on network topology in games:
GTA Online uses what's called a peer-to-peer mesh network setup. This means that every PC/console on a connected session is talking to every other PC/console in that session. The preferred alternative for most multiplayer games is sever-client, where in every PC/console is talking with a single server.
With p2p mesh, this means that everyone shares authority. What this translates to is that a server is not the single authority checking for malicious activity, much of which anyone who has played GTA Online for is familiar with. This also means that anyone with the know-how can figure out what IP every other person is connecting from. This can lead to other malicious activity outside of the game.
But standing up dedicated servers costs money. Why not avoid that?
There are plenty of cases to be made where peer-to-peer connectivity makes sense, especially from a cost-savings perspective. But in some cases, like GTA Online, the benefits/gains from using a server-client setup far outweigh the costs.
So, in no particular order:

What Dedicated Servers Would Have Brought to RS/T2:

More purchases of cash in the Social store.
We'll start with the obvious here. When someone can get into a game and ask about [redacted method of obtaining money/goods/vehicles/XP] and get a response 50% of the time, it's an obvious miss on being able to purchase prepaid in-game credit cards from the store. There's no incentive. And if they don't want to ask someone to do it, they can do it themselves.
Nevermind that the same group of people who can [redacted method of obtaining money/goods/vehicles/XP] will also just grief sessions. Better yet:
Better Control on Hackers/Modders
Anyone who is on the outside of RDR2 or GTA multiplayer has probably only heard telltale of what modders do in these games. Here's a list of what I've personally experienced:

• Crash game sessions for individuals or the whole lobby
• Send text messages as players in a session
• Cycle the daytime so frequently that it can cause seizures
• Blow up and kill all players instantly in a session
• Join sessions regardless of session privacy settings (friends only, solo, crew only, invite only)
  • This is done by finding a unique identifier in Rockstar online. I don't know the details; that's how a modder described it to me.
  • This is especially impactful to anyone who streams, as they only need to see their in-game name and do the aforementioned to join their session and hold it hostage/ruin it. Getting rid of this yields more, is written about later.
• Grab other players and teleport them around the map
• Attach objects to players so they can't get anywhere
• Cage players
• Generate endless in-game currency (which is something Rockstar offers as purchasable in their store).

The list goes on. The biggest reason for using dedicated servers, honestly, is to get rid of the griefers. It's enough so that I've seen people ask if someone is running a specific type of mod, and they know the commands to use to get gifted vehicles, cash, etc. It's prolific and horrible.
But cleaning those things up and preventing them means:
Higher volume of Twitch streamers.
It seems easily correlated, but Twitch's research shows that livestreaming leads to better game sales. The reason this isn't streamed as broadly is because not everyone can get enough reliable people for a heist. Private sessions can be invaded by the same people who also [redacted method of obtaining money]. This is regardless of the privacy of a lobby, because those same people can find a unique identifier on the public Rockstar social site and join it, regardless of whether or not they're a friend or a crew member-- or simply not invited.
What this translates to are people who have such a low bar to pass to join a streamer's game and hold the experience hostage, crash the session or do any other number of malicious things. They can also impersonate people and send messages as them. So this further leads to things like not being able to do:
Twitch Rivals streams between competing streamer teams.
Imagine this: the game is pretty solidly protected from people who [redacted method of obtaining money] and those incidents they generate are rare, and when they do pop up, they're punished. So, streaming this game is far more viable. Competitive crews start forming, and Rockstar promotes an event with streamers where they're able to host lobbies and get 24, 36 or even 48 streamers in one session running 12 different crews for things like:

• Business goods battles
• Arena wars
• Deathmatches
• Races

And so on and so forth. But because items have to be obtained through legitimate game mechanics, it also implements a grind. Maybe these groups/crews have been running for a while. But then you'd also be able to do:
Streamer Drops through Connected Accounts
We've seen other games do this, where viewers can get "drops" into their game by watching the streamer play it. These drops could have been literally anything that was on the Diamond Casino Wheel of Fortune. It could have even been a bonus spin at the wheel, to encourage getting the player in the game.
The Long-Term, Sharded MMO Experience
This translates to cash because people would be continually playing the game, which means more people paying for in-game cash and general popularity because more people would be streaming it, but this is the bigger buyback to the player, too.
Imagine a crew that worked hard at completing a certain set of heists on hard difficulty, no deaths, consecutive. Four people who are streaming their attempt like people do for raid bosses. And their reward was a unique yacht only available for that achievement.
A ranked arena war system that awarded players who got 100 wins with a unique vehicle or livery.
The system could have been adjusted to make some things a grind. Making that money with friends, and then knowing that if someone had a high-end apartment, much less a casino penthouse, that they earned it through blood, sweat and hard work.
Powerful crews that were running around and happen to land on the same lobby and an all-out war with tactics, reinforcements and a consideration of cash drain to get the win in Los Santos.
These are the things that Rockstar and Take2 missed out on by not having dedicated servers with protections against [redacted method of obtaining money]. They were on the verge of greatness. They were this close. And I know that a lot of this translates over for Red Dead Online, too.

Is It Too Late to Do All of This?

No, I don't think so. If RockstaTake2 were to seek redemption from this, here's what they'd have to do:
Implement a dedicated server gamemode, and only allow characters created for this game mode specifically.
If people want to continue messing around in peer-to-peer sessions, maybe they allow that for a time before slowly forcing people over (because it's all about that money, right?). But create a new character (or duplicate the looks of one), and make it only available for play on controlled, dedicated servers.
You can even put Ye Olde GTA 5 spin on it and have Lester come in and say, "Yeah, I know the simulation was pretty fucked, right? It got hacked by kids on Christmas break. But anyway, now that you know what's possible out there in this stupid, god-forsaken world, well... uh, perhaps it's time we started making some money. And you remember Fleeca, right?"
Then people start off fresh, and work on earning things through the grind. I promise you, that'll net you some untold money and viewership. And I have faith enough that even if you made a very solid push into authoritative client-host conversion from peer-to-peer mesh, allowing the authoritative client-host to be controlled by Rockstar servers, you'd get something out of it.
And I will put a disclaimer on here: I don't know if the game engine is so archaic that it wouldn't allow for this kind of change. And if that is indeed the case, then the only thing that I can say is you missed out on all of the above by choosing to design what you did, because it is a proprietary engine.
But if you can, imaginary Rockstar or Take2 directory reading this, please, I implore you. Push for the change. This has been one of the best social games for me during lockdown, and I can't overstate how much everyone will benefit from this.
Sincerely,
~The Village Idiot

I see players asking on reddit and discord servers about what is the best approach, target etc. to the casino heist for a single person to get maximum final cut out of all casino heist approaches. So here is a little guide to the players who are confused by the same.
**Heist Approach**: *Silent and Sneaky* (controversial ik, but please keep on reading)
**Vault target**: *Diamonds* (2 days left, hurry up!!)
**Crew**: Driver: *Karim Denz* ; Gunman: *Karl Abolaji* ; Hacker: *Paige Harris*
**Number of players required**: *3* (including host)
**Heist difficulty** : *Hard*
Ok now that we are all set with the pre-requisites, let's get down to the explaining.
After all of the set-up, your Heist take should be around **$2,750,000**. In order to get the maximum take for host, set your cut to 70% and the other 2 players as 15% each. 70% should amount to $1,925,000 for the host + extra bonuses :) Keep on reading.
We are aiming for the elite challenge to get that sweet 100k, so in order to do that, we have to plan out our heist finale to get the elite + some nifty little cash.
1) Start the heist as usual, disabling cameras and guards and stuff. Get the daily when going thru the control room as you usually do. One player takes the daily vault, the other two clean out the vault floor during the same time. *Efficiency 100*
2) It's a bonus if all 3 players are good hackers (2 of them can also do it easy). Hack all doors and grab loot as you usually do. You should get full loot easily in the stipulated time (If u don't, not being mean but you need to be better at hacking).
3) After going through the mantrap, when you are the end of the mantrap, turn on EMP and buzz through. Now, DON'T TAKE ON DAILY VAULT THIS TIME. Just waltz through and go the exit.
4) Go through the usual shit and take on Heli. Do not even think of sewers. (You might lose some cash here but it ain't much). You have already made up for it :)
5) And the heist finale is done!!
If everything went smoothly, you as host should get around *$1,925,000 + Elite bonus of $100,000 + 0.7x0.76x(Your daily vault loot)**
**Your final heist take is $2,025,000+ percentage cut of daily**
As for the approach, I agree while bigcon g6 is easier than Sns, if you are experienced you can take advantage of the daily vault too! As for new players, take the g6 approach and your final take will be minus the daily vault loot.
Thank You for reading this guide and I hope you found this helpful!!. If you did, please upvote for others to see. Moderators if you are seeing this, please consider pinning this post if you found it useful as well.
Go spend that fat cash on strip clubs I guess lol....Cya!!

Edit: Disclaimer that you should know how the gold glitch works before referring to my post. For a basic tutorial on the gold glitch check this guide out from TrueInfinite. My guide is meant to be the Step #2 to simplify dividing up carts/hacking doors.
-----------------------------------
Since trying to perfect my Casino Heist Game where I published the initial decision tree, I decided to test the hell out of the guide. I spent the past 3 weeks joining countless of Casino Heists, recording my time in the vault, and reviewed footage to analyze how things went.
What did I learn? Most of the decision tree was valid. Some vaults have multiple options which can lead to similar or even equal results with my guide. One mistake was pointed out by a friend of mine who helped me catch that Vault Layout #2 can follow the same door hack as #4/#6 to simplify the tree with equal take amount.
I took these experiences, went back and made some updates to the tree. I threw in a bunch of extra content which I found useful to optimize vault take amounts.
Without further ado, here's the new and updated GTA Vault Optimization Guide (Full Album Link).Edit: Zip Link
​

Item #	Topic	What is it?
1	Gold Glitch Hacking Decision Tree	UPDATED: Decision tree to help you decide which door(s) to hack and in what order.
2	General Gold Glitch Strategy	General tips & notes for gold glitch
3	Gold Glitch Timeline for Each Vault Layout / (Part 2)	Detailed timeline for both players in every vault layout.
4	Fingerprint Recognition Guide	Explanation of how to recognize fingerprint patterns quickly
5	Gold Glitch Video Examples	Heist videos by vault layout
6	Artwork Hacking Decision Tree	Decision tree to help you decide which door(s) to hack and in what order.
7	Artwork Timeline for Each Vault Layout / (Part 2)	Detailed timeline for both players in every vault layout.

​
Video Examples

Vault #	Grab	Link	Comments
1	$3,990,532	Youtube	Non-hacker duplicates carts A, B, C, H, while hacker duplicates cart G. Cart F isn't necessary in general as there are already 5 carts including G. Every gold bar unlocked is taken
1	$3,613,002 (Normal)	Youtube	This is normal difficulty, so the grab isn't as high, but the total amount corresponds to 246 gold bars, which in hard mode would translate to 3.974 million. Non-hacker partner left 1 gold bar left.
2	$3,635,100	Youtube	All 5 carts (A, B, C, E, F) are duplicated. The hacker duplicates E on his own and is pretty fast at hacking and manages to prep D before the timer hits 2:30. The decision tree recommends to hack the door to get H to keep the strategy consistent for layouts 2, 4, 6.
2	$3,683,568	YouTube	All 5 carts (A, B, C, E, F) are duplicated. Second hacker manages to hack H (even with a mistake!) to grab H in the end for an extra 3 bars to put the team over the $3.665 million cap.
3, 5	$3,990,532	YouTube	Duplicating of 5 carts (A, B, D, E, G). In this case the hacker is a little behind the non-hacker so the hacker preps only 1 cart (E) whereas the non-hacker preps the other 4 (A, B, D, G). The team grabs all 5 duplicated carts + 1 unduplicated cart (F).
4, 6	$3,263,512	YouTube	This is the 2 hacker approach to get 4 carts fully duplicated + D cart. In this case the hacker accidentally grabs 2 bars while duplicating H which slows down the grab start a little bit, but nevertheless is able to grab everything unlocked.
4, 6	$3,187,079 (Normal)	YouTube	Normal Mode. Hacker hits door #3 immediately, informs non-hacker to help hit Door #1 to unlock D. Carts A, B, D, G, H are duplicated.

​
Original Background/Motivation

• Many people stress the need to memorize, which is needed ultimately, but initially for people just starting out, it's not clear what specific features to look for. If I'm told to match my current vault layout with one of the 6 Gold layouts, it might take me 15-30 seconds to do so, especially if I go in numerical order and my vault is actually the #6 one.
• To help with memorization it's important to look for key features that lets you quickly identify the correct vault layout.
• I would often go into vaults thinking I knew what to do and then figure out I hacked the wrong door because I did not identify the vault layout properly.
• I created the decision tree initially to help me hack the right door to open up the right # of gold carts. In the gold glitch you want to duplicate as many and as fast as you can and then save the second half of the vault time to grab carts as fast as you can. It's very important that you unlock enough carts if your goal is to hit the maximum $3.6 million
• Similarly, artwork is in the same boat. Generally you have enough time, but if you hit the wrong vault doors, you could be left with 1 minute left trying to hack 2 sets of doors with one behind the other. I wanted a guide to help me avoid any situations where I leave artwork behind because of poor vault choice.

Closing
Huge shoutout to WarWithVarun-Varun, TrueInfinite, u/Flash_ZA for their vault layout guides/images as an inspiration.
Again, feedback, and commentary would be appreciated. There's a lot more content this time, so it's very easy for me to make mistakes. Feel free to point them out so I can correct them.
Edit: Bonus musings:

1. For replay glitch I had been pulling plug right at the chopper hitting the checkpoint sound. Host never gets money, but it's a reliable way to make sure
2. Late last week someone told me that I should add a delay--wait until the cutscene starts rolling and pull the plug ASAP. I've tried this and in 4/4 times I got my money, but 1 / 4 times I had my heist reset. Looks like as many have said the timing to ensure you get money but not the heist reset is extremely tough.
3. Many recommend looking for transaction pending or orange circle, but that's inconsistent. The text isn't always there and it's a tiny corner of your screen to look at. You can't miss when your screen flashes to the cutscene.

–This is a guide mostly for new players. I'm sure anyone whose been playing this game for a few years knows all this–
I started playing GTA online roughly two months ago and I already have practically everything I wanted, just from grinding the casino heist over and over again.
It can get tedious, sure, but so can everything else in life. You just have to have a positive mindset and think of the reward at the end– all the jets, planes, cars, bikes, clothes etc...! PLUS I personally find the preps a lot more enjoyable than doing sell missions for the bunker or doing import/export over and over.
I'm doing this on mobile, so please excuse any formatting errors :)
Note– doing this with two people is always the most optimal way to make money. Give yourself a huge cut. You deserve it for doing all the preps.
•step one: buy an arcade in Las Santos. Don't buy the one in Paleto Bay because that long drive to the casino will drive you crazy if you do it enough.
•step two: do all your prep works/setups in an invite only session. Trust me, it makes life so much easier when you're not bring chased by an oppressor all the time.
•step three: you can shuffle the contents you get in the vault. –NOTE THAT YOU CAN ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ALREADY COMPLETED ALL THREE HEIST APPROACHES–. YOU DO NOT WANT CASH. Art is better than gold (in my opinion) purely because it's very easy to do with two people... meaning you can keep a much bigger cut for yourself. Gold is awesome, but I'll talk about that in a bit.
•step three (b): to shuffle the vault contents and try to get something other than cash; simply do the vault contents prep. When you go to the casino and access the security camera feed, find the camera which reveals what's inside the vault. If you get art or gold, perfect! If you get cash, identify the target and wait for Lester to stop talking. Back out of the camera and then call Lester. Cancel the heist BEFORE you leave the casino. Leave the casino and go to your arcade. You will then have to pay another 25,000 to setup the heist again. When you pay, you will notice that a target has already been identified and there's a chance that this target will be different to what you already had. It's random so you may have to do it again. If you get cash again, go outside, cancel the heist again, restart your system, setup the heist again and repeat the previous steps until you get a better target than cash :)
•step four: always choose either aggressive or the Gruppe Sechs approach. Silent and sneaky with randoms is a nightmare abs it's not worth the frustration. Only do silent and sneaky with friends or people with mics
•step five: in order to even unlock the Gruppe Sechs approach, you have to first do the scoping out prep. Go to the sewer tunnel entrance that's closest to the casino. Go down the tunnel and look to your right. You will see a large semi-circular shaped get made of steel poles. Take a picture of it and send it to Lester. This will unlock the group Sechs approach!
•step five (b): always pick the cheapest gunman, the cheapest car guy and the best hacker. The best hacker you can get is AVI and to unlock him, you have to destroy all the signal jammers around the city.
•step six: there are optional preps. Some you can always skip and some you should absolutely do. You should ALWAYS get the level 2 keycards because if not, you will have to deal with that awful hacking minigame involving circles. Save yourself the headache of dealing with it and always do that prep. There's no point in getting the masks for any approach.
•step six (b): If you are doing the aggressive approach, I would highly recommend doing the enhanced body armour prep, Duggan's shipments and the level 2 keycard prep. You can skip everything else that isn't mandatory. The enhanced body armour will make your life so much easier... trust me. Doing Duggan Shipments and getting all 10 will makes the guards extremely easy to kill and will give them weak weapons.
step six (c): for the Gruppe Sechs approach, I would recommend doing the level two keycards and getting the exit disguise. I personally recommend going for the firefighter outfits because they're easier to get OR if you have the time, you can collect 54 playing cards, unlock the high roller outfits and you can use those as an exit disguise instead. They'll be permanently unlocked, meaning you can skip the exit disguise in future if you have it. Those are really the only optional preps you need. Patrol routes might seem important, but it's not.
step seven: when you're finished in the vault, always exit through the staff entrance. This will leave you in a position with the least amount of noose and the best position to escape from and to get to your getaway vehicles.
step eight: get in any vehicle you can find. Doesn't have to be your getaway vehicles. Drive to the police station that's near the casino, climb to the roof and get in the helicopter. It's the fastest way to your destination and to lose the cops. To see a tutorial of how to do this, there a tonne of guides on YouTube :)
step nine: you're done! You just completed the heist. Now you have to wait about 5 to 10 minutes to receive a call or text from Lester, suggesting you to do the heist again. Now, just do all steps again and you can easily make 2-3 million in about three or four hours.
If I'm missing anything, please let me know :)

I am level 131, I am doing aggressive and am looking for a level 80+ with a mic that’s willing to do the casino heist right now. I have all setups other than small drills and have sewer way in, artwork and best hacker so we can clean out the vault. Just believe me that I know what I’m doing. First come first serve.

So, i got into casino heists about a month ago. I really enjoy doing them. I have done between 2 to 8 heists a day, for the past month. My bf who has been my heist partner is losing interest in playing gta. I am to, but thats only because i have no one to play with, really. Except for him. But he hasnt been playing. We run very specifically. From missions, to the actual heist. We both run Big Con ( Gruppe 6 Always ) and aggressive back to back so we get the bonus. We reset for artwork or gold. Usually gold for Big con and artwork for aggressive. Is what we found easiest. We run setups at the same time, so were done around the same time. And we run the heists back to back and 50/50 each. And what im looking for is someone who may be interested in doing these things with me. Im a very good hacker. But since it would be just us two, i would need a another good hacker as well. As we need to be strong in all aspects because we are duoing. 18+, no kids please. Must speak english ( dont wanna sound mean, i just dont speak any other language ) and must need a mic.

Quick disclaimer. I have built this guide based on my own personal experience playing this game. I understand there are a lot of other guides out there, but I find that, in my opinion, they overlook many things. I truly believe this is the absolute best order to go about building wealth in this game from scratch, as I tested this guide out myself and had everything on this list within a week of playing.

1. Offer help to others with their casino heist. It may be difficult at first, but the heist itself is very easy when you learn how to do it and there are no requirements from the game to do it. You even get the weapons for the heist supplied to you. It is also the best active (legit) money maker in the game, so it's valuable to learn it right off the bat. Also, it is a fun way to start playing the game since even the set up missions can be quite dynamic and entertaining. There are 3 "approaches" to the heist that you alternate between, and only once you have done all three you will be able to 'cancel the heist' via calling lester. This will be important for later on, so if you get the opportunity to do all the approaches, then do it. Otherwise, no worries, you can set it up for youself later on.
   
2. Buy your own Arcade, La messa (Videogeddon) is the best one to go with. NOT ONE OUTSIDE THE CITY You will have to do a cutscene in mirror park with lester (marked by an "L" on the map) before you can buy it though. Once you got it, set it up, to get access to the casino heist and do the vault contents mission. The only scope out points you will need are the basic ones for the mission, the groupe sechs security tunnel entrance, and the sewer tunnel entrance for aggressive if you haven't gotten an opportunity to help another person with their "aggressive" approach heist. After that mission, do the vault content mission, go back to your arcade and hire the cheapest gunman, and the cheapest getaway driver. Continue to help others with their heist for money
   
3. Now that you hired the gunman, change sessions, and you will have a weapons workshop in your arcade, giving you access to weapons you normally can't buy until a higher level. Between the gun store and the weapon workshop, buy the basic weapons. Special carbine, micro smg, holming launcher, heavy sniper, marksman rifle. (Mk2 weapons if you are into PVP)
   

Optional step This one is more for fun as the most efficient thing would be to continue to help other people with their heists until you have a couple more things for your own heists. BUT, the game isn't always about "efficiency" so if you want to try out setting up your own heist, hire the best hacker you have access to (7% at the point you are at currently), and start setting it up yourself. It will be a good learning experience even if you slow down your money grind.

1. Buy any nightclub as this gives you access to other things you will need. Also the nightclub is extremely useful for making money itself. Make sure to do the set up missions.
   
2. Buy a terrobyte as this gives you access to "Paige" the best hacker you need for the casino heist (there is one slightly better, but insignificant in the long run. If you have paige, you are set.) Having the terrobyte also give you access to unlocking the trade price for the oppressor mk2, so start doing any client jobs until you have complete 5 missions (they can all be the same mission) to have the trade price unlocked.
   
3. Buy that oppressor(mk2)! It is the best grinders vehicle in the game. That being said, it is also the best greifer vehicle in the game. Remember, "with great power, comes great responsibility" -Uncle Ben (RIP)
   
4. Now you are at the point where it is officially more efficient for you to set up your own heists! Congrats! The next purchase you should make is the vehicle workshop for terrobyte, and then upgrade that baby with holming rockets so you can use it even more efficiently. Also another thing to mention is if you get cash as your vault contents, cancel your heist. It's not worth it, when artwork and gold give +1m and +2m bigger take respectively and it only costs 25k to set it up. Protip: cancel your heist in the casino before you complete the vault content mission, and you the next time you set up your heist, vault contents will be done already. You may get the same target again, but it saves you the time from having to do the mission since you will only have to do the mission once for every 2 times you check the vault.
   
5. Buy an MC clubhouse. The cheapest one is normally 250k and there really isn't any point in getting a different one as you rarely ever go there. But they are all cheap and you should have somewhat of a consistent flow of cash coming in, so get whichever you want.
   
6. Buy the Chumash Bunker + staff/equipment upgrade. Reason why Chumash is because it is the best one for distance as it's right outside Los Santos and right on the highway. The farmhouse bunker is good too, but 400k more expensive for not really any difference. Now you are set up to make passive money through your bunker. The way I do it is always buy the supplies, then when the stock reaches 140k, i buy more supplies and sell what i currently have to Los Santos. This keeps Bunker work short, solo, and only 1 delivery vehicle. It takes roughly 2 hours to fill up 1 full load of supplies, and you will net roughly 190k if you sell in a full lobby for the high demand bonus. So you should be making around 95k/h from bunker passively. Protip: Enemy players cannot lock on to you during bunker sales. They can however still free aim you if they are a good shot.
   
7. Now it's time to get the nightclub set up, but this one cost more to invest into. Buy the security/equipment upgrade for nightclub. Equipment makes the value of your sales greater, and security prevents raids up to a certain point. Security also adds a gun locker which is nice to have if you are into PVP, since it lets ypu customize your loadout.
   
8. Next we have to buy the businesses for the nightclub, so get the cheapest CEO office, the cheapest special cargo warehouse, and the cheapest coke lockup. I don't actually recommend spending your time doing the MC businesses, as the pay is horrible for the time you put into it. That being said, you will have to 'set up' you coke lockup so that it will be producing stock in your nightclub, but that's it. You don't actually have to have any supplies or product in your coke lockup.
   
9. Now we need to set up the business side of things from within the nightclub. Buy 3 warehouse storage floors for nightclub (not garage) + hire 2 extra technicians. Three floors of storage will give you space for 216 crate, and the security upgrade will prevent the raid timer from starting until 40% of that (87 crates). You want to always sell your nighclub stock before it reaches 90 crates, or you will not be able to use the small sale vehicle (or have to split up the mission and do it twice). The smallest delivery vehicle is the best one to use because it's the fastest, has the best weapons, and is a harder target to hit. Also same as with bunker sales, you cannot get locked onto with nightclub sales, and the high demand bonus works in the same way (although you do have to give a 10% cut of the sale to tony, up to 100k).
   
10. Upgrade speedo custom fully with weapons armour and performance so that the sale missions are a breeze, then you are ready to start doing nightclub sales. You will first have to 'assign' the technicians you hired to the available business you have acquired up to this point: South American Imports = Coke Cargo and Shipments = Cargo Sporting Goods = Bunker (The top 3) Then the business runs on it's own, simple as that. Just keep an eye on when you are anywhere between 50-90 crates, and if you are, then do the sale. Otherwise just let it continue to fill up until you reach that point. Occasionally people experience a glitch when first setting up their nightclub that doesn't fill up the stock for some business even though the technicians are asigned. If this happens to you, shut down your other businesses, start them back up, then reasign you technicians (try asigning them to different businesses then the ones you did the first time). That should fix that issue should you come accross it yourself.
    
11. 3 businesses for the nightclub are nice, but the max is 5. So buy the last 2 best ones which are the Meth lab and the cash factory (make sure to buy the cheapest one, and set them up). Also you will need to hire 2 more technicians to assign to your new businesses.
    

At this point you should have enough money coming in that you can buy literally anything you want in the game within a day or two. So the next step is up to you! Have fun :)

Casino Heists are an easy and consistent way of making money. The heist setups should take between 1 ½ and 2 ½ hours. The heist itself takes about 30 min, for the time invested you should make between 1 and 1.5 million per heist. Doing the heist setups and the heist is a great way to fill the time while your other businesses are producing sellable product.
The first thing you must have is an arcade property. If you can afford to, purchase a property in the city. The city location makes doing the heist preps and the heist itself easier. I recommend Videogeddon in the city. It is closest to casino, centralized for setups, and cheapest in city at $1,875,000.
There are 3 types of heist approaches: Big Con, Silent and Sneaky, and Aggressive. The big con approach has 4 different ways of doing it: Gruppe 6, Maintenance, Bugstars, and Yung Ancestor.
Each heist approach has its own unique setups as well as general setups shared amongst all heist approaches.
Before deciding on what approach you are going to use, you will have to scope out the vault contents to see what is inside the vault. Vaults contents can be Cash, Art, Gold, and Diamonds. Diamonds are only available during specific event weeks.
Following are the max amounts for each type of vault content: Cash- $2,115,000 (reg), $2,326,500 ((hard) Art- $2,350,000 (reg), $2,585,000 (hard) Gold- $2,585,000 (reg), $2,843,500 (hard) Diamonds- $3,290,000 (reg). $3,619,000 (hard)
Once you host and complete each of the 3 approaches the future heists can be set for the hard level and you will make the most money for each type of content (10% more than regular).
Generally, the first time you host each heist, the vault contents will be cash and cannot be changed. After completing all 3 approaches as host you will be able to call Lester and cancel any future heists that you do not like vault contents and\ re-scope out the vault for, hopefully, better contents. Make sure you have hosted all three types of heists. On the 4th and subsequent heists, after scoping out the vault and if you are not happy with the contents (you get cash again), call Lester prior to leaving the casino and cancel the heist (option on phone). Head back to your arcade and you will be able to start the heist again (to get another scope out). This will cost $25,000 every time you do it but it is usually worthwhile to try to get art or gold vault contents. \ When setting up the heists, I recommend the following: *use the cheapest gunman, * use the cheapest driver ( best vehicles are the sentinel classics) I also recommend getting bulletproof tires on both vehicles for the heist, and * use the best hacker. You should have completed all the collectibles, which means you have blown up all the signal jammers. Avi Schwartzman will be available as a hacker for the heist. He is the best hacker to use for the heist. To get bulletproof tires- once you have collected both vehicles for the heist, they are now in your arcade, get in the vehicles and press right on Dpad to upgrade vehicles. Choose the bullet proof tires, the other upgrades are unnecessary
When running the heist, always take high level buyer, to get the most money from the heist. There is a cash room, in the casino, where the daily cash used by the casino is held. You can get anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 from this room. When running the aggressive heist you will be able to take the cash from this room, also when running silent and sneaky you should be able to take the cash from this room twice (on the way in and out).
There is also the elite challenge- this is available for all 3 approaches but is easiest to get with the big con and silent and sneaky approach. The elite challenge will earn all players in the heist and extra $50,000 in normal mode and $100,000 in hard mode for hitting certain benchmarks. *Big Con- no restart, finish in under 15 min, no deaths, no alarm activated *Silent and Sneaky- no restart, finish in under 15 min, no deaths, no alarm activation, no hacks failed *Aggressive- no restart, no deaths, finish in under 15 min, 80 headshots Linked in this post are some youtube videos that will show you the basics of how to get the setups done and how to complete the heists themselves.
Your crew members are very knowledgeable about the game and heists, ask in the discord for help whenever it is needed to complete the heists.
To help you start your setups, and where to scope out the pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZ1wuEGXPA&list=PLDYNht49eL8dVX3TX_g-0LI8pH4nO7QQi&index=1
Crew members and general setup missions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYyp5YwUpo4&list=PLDYNht49eL8dVX3TX_g-0LI8pH4nO7QQi&index=2
Hacking and vault drilling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52ZJolcAcc&list=PLDYNht49eL8dVX3TX_g-0LI8pH4nO7QQi&index=3
Youtuber Ghillie Master has many videos on each approach, which include specific preps and how to run each heist. This link is to the youtube page, check out the videos prior to attempting each type of heist. Very informative https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDYNht49eL8dVX3TX_g-0LI8pH4nO7QQi

Ok so the single best way to make money in GtaVO is to buy the arcade and do the following
On average 1.6 Million dollars per heist And therefore 6.4 Million dollars per day
PREP:
https://youtu.be/bqNY08DQBkM (Enter Solo public lobby)
You will want to make sure to case the entrance the money truck takes to enter the building https://youtu.be/Om3B42f9qOg (4:00)(By the horse track)
And do all the setups for the big con approach don't bother with making money here
Then you precede to do stealth and loud approaches again don't worry about making money
You now want to follow this video https://youtu.be/8Va7s3-S8TY (Force gold spawn)
You now want to do the following: Choose big con Go the Gruppe sechs route Choose worst characters except get best hacker Get level 2 access cards Do guard kill and guard schedule missions Choose either outfit Rest is up to you
HEIST:
Now you'll walk to the vault follow this guide https://youtu.be/xR2ZjybCz8M (Duplicate available gold)
You will now want to follow vid (9:00 to 10:30) https://youtu.be/2dovd1buQ6w
https://youtu.be/pm3CrrYTdng (To heli) You will then leave through the front Once outside run across the highway and get into the nearest car on the hill Precede to drive to the back of the police station and climb up to the heli-pad proceed to fly to destination
You will then want to follow this vid https://youtu.be/2qyKgRw-hHQ (Replay heist)
What this will do is your friend will keep the money they get but the heist will be able to be re-done,
What you'll do is do the heist until your friend has enough to start there own casino heist
Once done youll be able to make money for each other
E.G they do there's and youll make money then you do yours and they get money
TIPS:
*The heist participant should always fly the heli *Give the friend the full percentage of the cut *#1 thing to try to get once set up is an oppressor MKII *If caught while stealthing just kill yourself and retry *Don't get discouraged by either the amount of work or how buggy the heist is *Party/Voice chat recommended *Recommended 2-4 Heists per person a day (Too much causes badsport/suspicious) *Recommended buy gunman distraction *Destroying jammer devices/unlocking special hacker recommended (extra 30s)

Diamond Casino Guide:
So you decided that you wanna rob a casino, great! The Diamond Casino Heist is one of the best ways to earn money, but you're wondering, how do I get started? Well, you're in luck! This guide is going to teach you the ways to get the best out of the Diamond Casino Heist!
Step 1: Arcade
Alright to get started, you’re going to have to own an arcade. Now, it may seem better to go for the arcades on the top of the map to save yourself some cash, however, this will make all the preps much harder, as most of them take place in LS or Sandy Shores.
The best arcade locations are 8-bit ($2,530,000, located in Vinewood) and Videogeddon ($1,875,000, La Mesa). When buying your arcade, none of the upgrades are necessary, as most of them are cosmetic. You’ll have to complete a quick arcade setup mission to access the basement where the diamond casino heist planning board is located.
Step 1.5: Arcade Income
While this isn’t related to the diamond casino heist, I thought I would put this in there. The arcade generates income based on how many games you have, going up to 5k per in-game day (48 min). The game doesn't matter, so you can just buy the cheapest one (Monkey’s Paradise, $90,000) and fill up your arcade with it.
Step 2: Scope out casino
After you’ve finished watching Lester scribble a big mess over the whiteboard, you’ll be able to start the casino heist. Normally, you’ll have to pay a setup cost of 25k, but since it’s your first time doing it, it’ll be free. After you’ve confirmed that you want to start the casino heist, you’ll need to finish the scope out mission. For the scope out mission, you’ll need to take a variety of pictures for Lester in order to unlock entrances for the heist. A full guide is linked here but I’ll sum up the most important ones.

• Staff Lobby: This entrance is arguably the best entrance for the Silent and Sneaky approach. It gives you easy access to the control room where you can get the daily vault easily. It is also the best exit for most approaches as not many guards patrol it. The staff lobby should be around the back of the casino and should look like a white door behind some yellow bollards.
• Security Tunnel: By scoping out this entrance, it gives you the ability to enter the casino as a Gruppe Sechs team for the Big Con. This entrance is the best if not one of the best approaches to the casino heist. The disguise will allow you to go straight to the vault undetected and back up, however, you will be detected when going back out of the casino on the casino access floor, so I would suggest getting some exit disguises to make your escape easier. The security tunnel should look like a big metal garage door with a security camera watching over it under the racetrack.
• Sewers: The sewers allow you to burrow down right into the vault access floor giving you easy access as you are right next to the vault mantrap. The sewer exit, however, is only available in the aggressive approach.
• Roof Terrace: At first glance, the roof terrace may seem like a horrible entrance/exit, however as it turns out, the roof terrace is actually a contender for one of the best aggressive exits. By taking the roof terrace, you can shoot down the guards at the racetrack while they're not being able to shoot back and then parachute down.

You’ll only need to do this mission once, and it will be completed for all future casino heists.
Step 3: Vault Contents
The vault contents mission is pretty easy. You’ll be given the rough location of a Duggan security guard, once you find him, you can either hack him, which can take some time but you won’t get the cops on you if you do it right, or you can kill him and grab the phone, which will save you some time but you’ll need to lose the cops before you can enter the casino.
After you’ve entered the casino, you’ll need to bring out the sightseer app on your phone to find a wifi signal. After you’ve located the wifi signal, you’ll need to figure out the vault contents. Beware that you only have a limited time to do this (2 min).
Since it’s probably your first time, I would recommend that you go through every camera to scope out each POI. The target will be cash since it’s your first time, which has a payout of 2.1 mil on normal. The first time will always be cash (payout of $2,115,000 on normal), but if it’s not your first time, the targets can be either cash, artwork (payout of $2,350,000 on normal) or gold (payout of $2,585,000 on normal).
There is a 4th target, which is diamonds (payout of $3,257,100 on normal) however this vault content is only available for special occasions and has been removed from the vault contents.
If you do the heist on hard by doing the same approach after you’ve done another one, the payout will be 10% larger. If you’ve completed all 3 approaches to the heist, you can cancel the heist which can be helpful if you’ve got a bad target. Link to this is here.
Step 4: Selecting your approach
Once you’ve finished the vault contents mission, you’ll be able to select your approach.
There are 3 approaches to the diamond casino heist. Silent and Sneaky, The Big Con and Aggressive.
For beginners, I would recommend alternating between Big Con and Aggressive, because those are the easiest ones. For Big Con, choose the Gruppe Sechs disguise for the easiest entry. Aggressive is good for newer players however it does end up in a lot of money loss. After you’ve got the gist of it, alternate to doing Silent and Sneaky in place of aggressive for a bigger payout.
Step 5: Selecting your support crew
After you’ve selected your approach, you’ll need to select your support crew before you can do any of the prep missions.
Selecting your support crew is very simple. You’ll need a gunman to source guns, a driver to source cars, and a hacker to delay the nerve agent inside the vault.
Selecting your support crew depends on the approach and target in the vault. For Big Con, SnS, any target EXCEPT for art, you’ll want the worst gunman (Karl Abolaji, take his Micro SMG on big con, heavy revolver on aggressive and on SnS the choice is up to you), the worst driver (Karim Denz, take his sentinel classic) and the best hacker available to you, for most people, this will be Paige Harris (unlocked when the Terrorbyte is purchased, gives 3:25 in the vault when undetected and 2:23 detected).
For aggressive, you’ll still want to have the worst driver and best hacker, however, the gunman is up to you since you’ll be using guns a lot. I normally go with Charlie Reed (unlocked when purchasing a hangar), he takes a 7% cut (2% more than Karl) and gives you an assault SMG, however, you can get by with Karl, as every gunman gives you an SMG to go along with another weapon, which is still a perfectly fine weapon.
For Big Con, SnS and the target is Art, if you and your heist partner can both hack very well, you can get by with Yohan Blair (takes a 5% cut and gives you 2:51 in the vault if you are undetected and 2:01 if you are).
Step 5.5: Secret heist crew members
There are 2 hidden heist crew members that can’t be unlocked by purchasing a business like most heist crew members. There 2 are Patrick McReary and Avi Schwartzman. Patrick McReary is a gunman who takes an 8% cut and gives the choice a Combat MG or an Assault Shotgun in aggressive. Avi Schwartzman is a hacker that takes a 10% cut and gives 3:30 undetected in the vault and gives 2:22 if you are detected. To unlock Patrick, he spawns as a random event around the map. He spawns in a police car that you will need to hijack. A guide is linked here. To unlock Avi, you’ll need to destroy 50 signal jammers that are located around the map. A guide is linked here.
Step 6: Prep Missions
Now that you’ve selected your support crew, you’ll be presented with a plethora of prep missions. Some mandatory and some optional. To complete these missions, I suggest that you use a Kuruma, Buzzard, or Oppressor Mk2 to make your life easier. In some prep missions, you will not be able to call Lester, so be prepared. All of the missions can be done solo but it makes it easier if you have a friend with you to help you out.
Now onto the optional prep missions. Optional prep missions, are, as the name suggests, optional. The optional prep you should do depends on the approach. If you own a penthouse and have completed all of the missions, you will gain access to the security intel mission. It’s very easy to complete and you will only need to do it once. A nice trick is that the gauntlet actually spawns when you start the mission, not when the cutscene is triggered, so you can just shoot the driver and take the gauntlet. A guide will be linked below.
Let’s start with Silent and Sneaky. For Silent and Sneaky, the optional prep missions depend on your skill level. If you’re an experienced player, you don’t need to do much, only level 2 security passes. Power drills you can do if you think you have enough time. However, if you are a very new player, I’d recommend that you do patrol routes, Duggan shipments (you only need to destroy 3 to get rid of their bulletproof helmets), level 2 security passes, emp device and infiltration suits and power drills if you think you have enough time. If you do all these, the heist should be a breeze.
Going onto the Big Con, if you’re doing Gruppe Sechs, you don't need to do much. You only need to go through one door if you exit out the staff door, so you can decide if you want to do level 2 security passes or not. Patrol routes do make things easier, however are not necessary. Again, only do power drills if you think you have enough time. Make sure you do exit disguises. Noose and firefighter are exactly the same, so do firefighters since it has an easier mission.
For aggressive, again, patrol routes make it easier but are never necessary. Make sure to do Duggan shipments. You can solo it, but it will be much easier with another person. If you don’t get them all you can just close the game and you’ll be able to do the mission again. Reinforced armor allows you to take more damage, so I would recommend it even if it makes you slower. Be sure to also do boring machine as it allows you to enter through the sewers. Make sure to also do level 2 security passes unless you really like hacking doors.
Step 7: Finding people to play with
Now that you’ve completed all your required prep missions, you need some people to play with. If you don’t have any friends to play with, I recommend checking out HeistTeams or the GTAO Discord LFG Channels to find people to play with. Make sure to have good communication between your teammates otherwise the heist will be in chaos.
Step 8: Completing the heist
Now that you’ve got a solid heist crew waiting to grab all of that sweet loot out of the casino’s vault, you’ll be able to start the heist. If you're doing aggressive, the plan is pretty simple, shoot your way in, grab the loot, then shoot your way out. The easiest entry for aggressive is sewers, and the easiest exit is the eastern roof terrace. If you exit through the staff lobby, you’ll get shot a ton when going over the racetrack, however, if you exit through the roof terrace, you can shoot the guys behind the stones on the racetrack then safely parachute down.
For The Big Con, I’m going to assume you’re doing the Gruppe Sechs approach. By doing the Gruppe Sechs approach, you can pretty much waltz into the vault and back out of it, just be careful that this has some limitations. When going back up the stairwell/elevator to the casino access floor, the guards will have checked the vault and know it’s been robbed, so you disguise ain't gonna work anymore. I strongly suggest getting exit disguises, as they will greatly help your escape. The easiest exit for this is the staff lobby.
For SnS, I’m not really going to go into too much detail here because there’s a full video linked below. What I will talk about is when to use the emp (If you did the prep mission). I recommend emp’ing when you’re at the vault access floor, allowing you to waltz into the mantrap, or when you're coming back up to the casino access floor and are in the mantrap. Be warned that if you decide to get the daily vault when you trigger the emp, the emp’s timer will run out before you can get to your exit, so plan ahead. The easiest entrance for this is the staff lobby and the easiest exit is also the staff lobby.
Tips and tricks to complete the heist

• If you are disguised, do not bump into any of the guards. They will detect you and start shooting.
• In the control room, there is a button that you can press to open the door to the daily vault. One person has to hold the button while the other goes in and grabs the cash. This can be done with any approach.
• Running and jumping is faster than just running normally, use this to your advantage while inside the vault.
• Running in first person is actually faster than 3rd, so use this to your advantage when trying to knock out guards.
• Don’t bother trying to escape the cops by hiding in an alley or something, either take your car into the sewers down by the LS river or take the heli that usually spawns on top of the police station. The sewers will result in you losing less money, however will be much slower. I will link both of these methods below in the useful media section.
• Normally when exiting the casino from the staff lobby without any disguise, you’ll need to knock out a guard to the left of the swat fan to your right, before hugging the race track wall and then dropping down. I have found that sometimes if you run, the guard will hear you and detect you, causing you to get shot at. To prevent this, walk up to him making sure you stay out of his FOV then knock him out.
• You walk much faster in the casino if you are in first person, making the vault contents mission much easier.
• In prep missions, you can change any accessory (glasses, hat, ect.) to lose 1 star which is useful on missions where you can’t call Lester to remove your wanted level.
• On some missions, you can lose the cops by entering your Terrorbyte/MOC/Avenger.
• On some missions, you can lose the cops if you accept Lester’s apartment heist invite. This only works if you have a heist active.
• In the hacking device mission where you have to infiltrate the FIB building, you walk a lot faster if you aim down sights on any gun, however, if you go into any agent’s LOS you will get detected instantly, so be careful when using this trick.
• You can upgrade your getaway vehicles in the arcade by getting in them and pressing the button shown on the prompt that appears on the top left.

Useful media

• Practice casino fingerprint hacking
• Easiest way to complete Silent and Sneaky
• Casino Heist Big Con Gruppe Sechs
• Casino Heist Aggressive Sewer Entrance
• How to make the most money out of the Diamond Casino Heist
• Casino Heist Sewer Escape
• Casino Heist Heli Escape
• Security Intel

​
Diamond Casino Heist FAQ
Welcome to the Diamond Casino Heist FAQ! This thread is going to go through all of the new changes and content added to the Casino Heist DLC. The information in this thread is up to date as of 28/7/2020.
Release Date
Announced on December 5th and released on December 12th, 2019, the Diamond Casino Heist is the latest DLC to come to GTA Online as of July 25th, 2020. This DLC adds a bunch of new content, including new vehicles, properties, vehicles, and a brand new heist!
New Content
Vehicles:
Maxwell Asbo (SSASA): $306,000 - $408,000
Karin Everon (SSASA): $1,106,250 - $1,475,000
Lampadati Komoda (Legendary): $1,275,000 - $1,700,000
Vapid Retinue Mk II (SSASA): $1,215,000 - $1,615,000
Ubermacht Rebla GTS (Legendary): $1,175,000
Maxwell Vagrant (SSASA): $1,660,500 - $2,214,600
Grotti Furia (Legendary): $2,055,000 - $2,740,000
RUNE Zhaba (Warstock): $1,800,000 - $2,400,000
Karin Sultan Classic (SSASA): $1,288,500 - $1,718,000
Nagasaki Outlaw (SSASA): $951,000 - $1,268,000
Declasse Drift Yosemite (SSASA): $981,000 - $1,308,000
Dinka Sugoi (SSASA): $918,000 - $1,224,000
Dinka Blista Kanjo (SSASA): $435,000 - $580,000
Nagasaki Strider (Legendary): $502,000 - $670,000
Dewbauchee JB 700W (Warstock): $1,470,000
Overflod Imorgon (Legendary): $2,165,500
Albany V-STR (Legendary): $1,285,000
Progen PR4 (Legendary): $3,515,000
Ocelot R88 (Legendary): $3,115,000
Nagasaki Blazer Lifeguard (Warstock): $62,000
Brute Boxville (Warstock): $298,500 - $398,000
Declasse Bugstars Burrito (Warstock): $450,000 - $598,000
MTL Fire Truck (Warstock): $2,471,250 - $3,295,000
Declasse Lifeguard (Warstock): $865,000
Brute Stockade (Warstock): $1,680,000 - $2,240,000
Weapons
Ceramic Pistol (Ammunation): $20,000
Navy Revolver (Unlocked after finishing the Los Santos Slasher treasure hunt): Free
Properties
The release of the Diamond Casino Heist DLC introduces a new property: arcades. Arcades are a passive business that allows you to host the diamond casino heist. The maximum daily income of the arcade is $5,000.
They are purchasable from Mmazebankforclosures at 6 different locations. The cheapest is at $1,235,000 (Pixel Pete’s, Paleto Bay) and the most expensive being at $2,530,000 (8-bit, Vinewood Hills).
Customization options on offer are 2 arcade styles, $290,000 - $470,000, 8 mural options, $50,500 - $107,500, 8 floor options, $78,000 - $165,000, 8 neon art styles, $107,500 - $320,000, personal quarters, $150,000, high score screens, $295,000 and a garage $215,000. 2 extra options are available to purchase from the arcade computer, which are the master control terminal, $1,740,000 and the drone station, $1,460,000. A variety of arcade games are also available to purchase, ranging from $90,000 to $420,000.
Credits
u/Pepperooney_ for adding a bunch of info on the tips and tricks section
u/what_it_dooo for suggesting the roof terrace and the hacking device trick

Hey guys, my friend and I are interested in grinding the casino heists a few times each afternoon. We’ve had terrible luck with randos and would like to stick to two man strategies. I have some questions that hopefully you guys could answer. I got my arcade today and did a bit of reading— but there’s a ton of information out there and it’s a lot to take in. I’m hoping to condense the information to plan out a simple routine. Here are the questions I have:
1) From what I understand, you can’t spam the aggressive approach each time, and you have to switch approaches each run. If this is the case, which approaches would you recommend for ease and speed? And which entrances and escapes do you use?
2) What setups are absolutely crucial? What can we, as a two man team, skip? We’re interested in repeating this and doing the heists as quickly as possible.
3) What vehicles do you use for the setups?
4) Currently we are running Cheap gunman (shotgun and smgs), Cheap driver (Sentinel Classics), and expert hacker. (Avi or Paige). Is this a good mix?
5) Are there any additional ways to increase your take other than looting the money in the carts in the vault!
6) Any other tips on the heist to maximize take, minimize time on heist or setups, or anything else?
Thanks a bunch!

Hi, full disclaimer I've never done any casino heist before - I spent all day yesterday doing the prep solo for aggressive and now have the final queued up.
I understand it can be done with just two people? If so I'm looking for one person, equal share of the take - I have a headset and would appreciate if you do to and could talk me through anything considered common knowledge with this heist, I've watched a couple of YouTube videos of the aggressive approach but as I mentioned I've never actually done this heist, I did all the optional stuff minus the one you have to own the casino penthouse to do it. My concern is when we're in the vault and what to take\where to set charges, I'm not sure on the layout and heard there's a second vault or room or something? Also I went around the map blowing up the 50 jammers so got the hacker from doing that, don't have what's needed for Paige...
My Xbox tag is Bushlord86 and I'll be online for the next two hours.

I haven't seen a good comprehensive guide for this, despite it being the best money making method in the game, so I thought I'd write a guide about it.

What is the Casino Heist and why should I do it?

The Casino Heist is semi-challenging PvE content for 2-4 players. As of August 2020 it's the best paying grind in the game, paying out $1.5-$2 million split between heist members every hour and a half. If you're doing setups with one friend, you're both effectively earning ~$80k per setup mission.
If you have no friends who play GTA:O, try to find a buddy in game or on HeistTeams
It's possible to get even higher payouts, but discussing glitches is against the rules of this subreddit; go to gtaglitches for that stuff.

Getting Started

To do the Casino Heist you need an Arcade, preferably Eight-Bit (Vinewood) or Videogeddon (La Mesa) as they're the closest to the Casino and setup missions.
Not required, but strongly recommended as they'll make setup missions much easier:

• A good gun, such as Special Carbine
• A bulletproof car for gunfights, such as Armored Kuruma
• An aircraft with homing missiles, such as Buzzard Attack Chopper or Oppressor Mk2

Scoping and Vault Contents

All Points of Interest
All Access Points
Cash has the worst payout (up to $2.1 mil). You will always get cash the first time you host the Casino Heist.
Art has middling payout (up to $2.3 mil) but is very fast to steal, which means you can get detected, or hit the vault with fewer players, and still get the maximum take.
Gold is like cash but gives much better payout (up to $2.6 mil), with the disadvantage of making you run slightly slower when you leave the vault.
Diamonds only appear during special events, but have the highest payout for vault contents (up to $3.6 mil).

Choosing Approaches

The Big Con is the best approach, since the security tunnel entrance + Gruppe Sechs disguise takes you straight to the vault. Always choose it when possible.
Silent & Sneaky is like The Big Con, but is more difficult and takes longer.
Aggressive is relatively fast, but gives less time in the vault, making it much harder to get the maximum take for any target except Art.
In general, you should choose Aggressive for Art, The Big Con for other targets, and Silent & Sneaky only as a last resort. You should also choose Hard mode whenever possible as it gives you a 25% higher take.

Support Crew

Your Hacker is the most important support crew member, as they determine how long you have in the vault, and therefore your maximum take. My go-to is Paige Harris, who you unlock by owning a Terrorbyte. Avi Schwartzman is equally good and can be unlocked by destroying all Signal Jammers. If you don't have either of them, Christian Feltz is a decent stopgap measure; just be aware you'll have a good chance of missing out on profits.
The Driver determines your getaway vehicles, and is largely irrelevant since most people ignore the getaway vehicles and jack a car or a helicopter for their escape. I always go with Karim Denz and source the Sentinel Classic. It's only worth getting a more expensive driver if you want to unlock a car's trade price.
The Gunman determines the weapons you'll be using in the run. Again, mostly irrelevant, since Karl Abolaji's weapon loadouts are good enough even for a Hard Aggressive approach. Only get a more expensive gunman if you're going Aggressive and aren't confident in your headshotting skills or those of your crew.

Optional Preps

I don't recommend paying to skip any of the preps, because it eats significantly into your profits, and unlike MC/bunker missions, you can't easily make back the cost by doing other missions in that time.

• Security Passes

Mandatory for every approach. Remember to get level 2 security passes, not level 1. The mission is very easy and saves you from having to do lots of annoying hacking minigames during the final heist.

• Duggan Shipments

This is mandatory for Aggressive and Silent and Sneaky, as destroying at least 3 shipments will remove the bulletproof helmets from guards and allow them to be headshotted. Most people also do this for Big Con just to be safe. Having at least one other player in your organization, as well as a Buzzard or Oppressor Mk2, makes this mission very easy.

• Security Intel

Unlocked after completing all Casino Penthouse missions, this is a once-off mission that reveals security cameras on the radar on all future casino heists. Do it when you unlock it.

• Patrol Routes

Reveals guards on your radar. Not required, but useful on every approach, especially Silent & Sneaky. Do this if you have time.

• EMP (Silent & Sneaky only)

This mission is relatively easy and the EMP saves a lot of headaches in a Silent & Sneaky run. Not required, but worth taking the time to do.

• Boring Machine (Aggressive only)

This unlocks the best entry route for the Aggressive approach where you tunnel straight to the vault. Not required (Staff Lobby is almost as fast) but it makes the approach to the vault very easy.

• Power Drills

Don't bother with this mission, other than to play through it once or twice for fun. The money from the deposit boxes isn't worth your time.

• Exit Disguise (Big Con only)

These missions are annoying and the disguises aren't that helpful. Collecting all playing cards gives you a permanent exit disguise you can use; I recommend doing that instead and never having to worry about this prep.

• Infiltration Suits (Silent & Sneaky only)

This mission gives you night vision. Basically, it's only useful if you plan on using the EMP but don't know the casino floor layout. Do it the first time you do a Silent & Sneaky run; by the second time, you should be experienced enough that you don't need it.

• Reinforced Armor (Aggressive only)

This unlocks new outfits that reduce the damage you take during the heist finale. Personally, I hate this prep, because a) the mission is annoying, b) the finale is easy enough without it, and c) the armored outfits are ugly. Do it if you aren't confident in your shooting skills, or if you plan to do the heist with only two players.

Finale Screen

Buyer: Always choose the High Level buyer for the best payout. The only difference is that you have to drive or fly a few more miles after you lose the cops -- more than worth the extra percentage of the cut.
Decoy: This makes the helicopter getaway slightly easier on the Aggressive approach, or if you screw up either of the other two approaches. I don't think it's worth the extra cost, but it could be worth it if you find yourself constantly having trouble getting to the helicopter.
Clean Vehicle: Completely useless. Don't bother.

The Big Con

Entrance: Security Tunnel
Exit: Staff Lobby

• Go straight to the vault. Take your sweet time plundering it.
• Take the stairs on the way up. You want to take the long corridor looping around the back, pass by the laundry room and pick up your exit disguises if they're there, then make a run for the staff lobby exit.
• You will be busted if guards or cameras see you. The guards in the security office can't see you through the bulletproof glass, but you can be seen through the glass panels in the doors.
• Melee kill the patrolling guards from behind and run through the cameras without staying in their cone of vision for too long.
• Once you're out of the staff lobby exit, there will be a NOOSE van to your right. Head past it, melee killing the guards, and make your way to the main road. From there, you can run to your getaway vehicles or jack a random car off the road.

Silent & Sneaky

Entrance: Staff Lobby
Exit: Staff Lobby

• Take your time and have one person go ahead at a time. You want to make sure that you're headshotting guards with your silenced machine pistol, and using the stun gun on all cameras you pass by. If there are two guards next to each other, shoot them both in quick succession.
• You will be busted if guards or cameras see you. The guards in the security office can't see you through the bulletproof glass, but you can be seen through the glass panels in the doors.
• The daily take is worth getting if you have time.
• You can use the Nano Drone in your inventory to shoot a tranquilizer dart. This is most useful on the guard patrolling the stairwell. Have your teammate wedge the door open, then fly the drone through the gap and down the stairs to knock the guard out.
• If you got the EMP, you can use the SecuroServ app on your phone to activate it. This gives you 1 minute to book it and run past all guards, security doors, and cameras on a floor.
• Once you're out of the staff lobby exit, there will be a NOOSE van to your right. Head past it, killing the guards, and make your way to the main road. From there, you can run to your getaway vehicles or jack a random car off the road.

Aggressive

Entrance: Sewer or Staff Lobby
Exit: Staff Lobby

• This is a straightforward gunfight. Just move from cover to cover and shoot everything that moves.
• As always, use headshots to get instant kills. Even if you did all Duggan shipments and got an expensive gunman, the guards can take a ridiculous number of bullets to center of mass, so it's faster to aim for the head and take them out instantly.
• The guards respawn continually, so it isn't possible to completely clear a floor out. Just keep moving.
• The daily take is worth getting if you have time.
• When exiting through the staff lobby, don't go straight through the security office or you'll be shot to pieces. Take the long way around instead.
• Once you're out of the staff lobby exit, jump the fence to the racetrack and run straight across. If there are any cars in the parking lot to your left, jack them and drive out. Otherwise, keep going and jump the fence to the main road. From there, you can run to your getaway vehicles or jack a random car off the road.

The Getaway

No matter which approach you take, you'll eventually end up outside the casino, on the main road, with a 5 star wanted level. There are two main strategies people use here.

• Sewer Tunnel: Directly south of the racetrack, in the storm drain, is the entrance of the sewer tunnel that Michael and Franklin escape through in story mode. If you drive in here and keep going, you'll eventually start losing your wanted level. Get out of the car and wait in the sewer until you're all clean. From there, it's an easy drive to the buyer -- just don't drive near the casino or you'll be wanted by the cops again. This is a safe but slow getaway.
• Police Station Helicopter: Over the overpass to the west, directly across the highway from the casino, is the Vinewood Hills police station. It's possible to drive to the back of the building and climb from the grass patch up to the roof. There, you can climb the roof fixtures to get to the helipad, where a police helicopter usually spawns. Once everyone is in the helicopter, you can use it to evade the cops. This is a quick but more risky getaway, since the helicopter occasionally doesn't spawn, and you can get shot during the drive or fall off the roof if you're unlucky.

Bugs

• Permanent Wanted Level

Bug: You're in a getaway vehicle far from any cops, but your wanted level won't go away. This happens because one of your heist teammates has high ping and the game is having trouble syncing your wanted levels.
Fix: Have everyone get out of the vehicle and wait until the bug goes away. If you're in a helicopter with no safe place to land, the offending teammate(s) may have to parachute out.

• Guards Spawning Late

Bug: On Silent & Sneaky, guards take a few moments to spawn in after you disable the metal detector.
Fix: Don't go through the metal detector or shoot anyone until the guards finish spawning in.

• Frozen Guard Patrols / Bugged Camera Movement

Bug: The guards in the casino aren't moving, and the cameras have weird movement patterns or are facing towards walls.
Fix: Just keep going; this bug actually makes Silent & Sneaky / Big Con easier most of the time. If there's a frozen guard you can't get past, use the Nano Drone.

• Disappearing Vision Cones During Getaway

Bug: You're getting away from the casino undetected when the vision cones suddenly disappear from your radar. Despite this, the police aren't coming after you.
Fix: This is a visual glitch and you haven't actually been discovered. Just keep going.

• Spectator Leaving

Bug: Someone joins as a spectator, then leaves. You screw up the heist and have to restart. Then you fail the heist because "Your heist team quit."
Fix: Suck it up and reset.

• Silent & Sneaky Body Found

Bug: You're suddenly busted because a body was found... even if you haven't killed anyone yet.
Fix: Suck it up and reset.

• Uncollectable Heist Prep Equipment

Bug: You're doing heist prep mission with a friend, and you can't pick up the equipment because "you can't steal heist prep while on a heist prep mission."
Fix: Suck it up and reset.

• Heist Prep Vehicle Not Registering

Bug: You collect a heist prep vehicle and drive to your arcade, but it doesn't trigger the end of the mission.
Fix: Suck it up and reset.
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Hope someone out there finds this guide helpful. Comments and suggestions appreciated.