Diamond Casino Heist is one of the several heists players can do in GTA Online, the multiplayer part of GTA 5. It was added to the game in December 2019 as part of the Diamond Casino Heist update.
You can complete the heist with only one other player or more. It’s similar to the Doomsday Heist, as you once again have to complete Prep Jobs to reach the Finale. Both these and the setup missions are completed in Freemode, and you can also do several optional ones to make it easier.
Once again, support crew members are available, and you can hire them to help you with the preparations and facilitate the heist.
Overall, the Diamond Casino Heist can be pretty hard to complete, so if you’re stuck on it or just want to see how to finish it properly, this guide will help you. Read on to learn how it works from start to finish and how to complete it and earn up to GTA$3,619,000.
How to Do the Diamond Casino Heist
The Diamond Casino Heist is one of the biggest in GTA Online, so it requires meticulous planning if you intend to get the highest payouts. The good news is that you can set it all up on your own, as you won’t need more than one player to complete it.
The most important part is the preparation stage, where you get multiple steps to complete and several options for each.
Remember that the first time you do the heist is free, but if you want to do it again, you’ll have to cough up GTA$25,000.
Pre-Setup Stage — Buying the Arcade
To begin the entire heist mission, you must buy a retro arcade. But to do that, you need to register as a CEO or become a Motorcycle Club President.
The game has six arcades, four of which are in Los Santos. Talk to Lester in Mirror Park to unlock them on the map. Then you’ll get to buy one over the Maze Bank Foreclosures site on your phone. Here’s what’s available:
- Pixel Pete’s (Paleto Bay) — GTA$1,235,000
- Wonderama (Grapeseed) — GTA$1,565,000
- Videogeddon (La Mesa) — GTA$1,875,000
- Warehouse (Davis) — GTA$2,135,000
- Insert Coin (Rockford Hills) — GTA$2,345,000
- Eight Bit (Vinewood) — GTA$2,530,000
Once you acquire one, you’ll have to complete the Arcade Equipment mission. It’s pretty straightforward, as you only need to get some initial gear for your new hideout.
This unlocks Lester’s underground base, which features three blackboards. Each represents a stage within the heist:
- Setup
- Preparation
- Heist
Let’s go over each one.
First Stage — Casino Heist Setup
The first task on the Setup blackboard tells you to scope out the casino. You can buy extras through the blackboard that will help you locate the safest casino entry points:
- Casino model — Costs GTA$130,000 and highlights all the access points.
- Door security — Costs GTA$425,000 and lets you practice door hacking.
- Vault door — Costs GTA$900,000 and allows vault cracking. It’s only available if you find the vault blueprints while scoping the casino.
Once you’re ready to begin, you need to head over to the casino. Take pictures of security features and send them to Lester. Make sure you get them all. Then you need to scope out the vault contents, and if you do this properly, you’ll find ten additional interest points.
Even though many are optional, it’s best to finish all the tasks as that will make the heist much smoother.
Now it’s time to choose your heist approach. You can pick between three:
- Silent & Sneaky — This is the slow, safe, and stealthy approach. You’ll face the least resistance and have the longest time to complete the heist. Bear in mind that stealth doesn’t always work well in GTA Online.
- The Big Con — You and your teammates disguise yourselves as workers and attempt to enter the vault. This is usually the best approach to take.
- Aggressive — Go in guns blazing and breach the vault with force. You’ll need good weapons as you’ll face the most opposition. If you love action, you’ll do fine, but the approach is not recommended to other players.
The Silent and Sneaky approach is quite popular among online players. You’ll encounter less resistance from police, which means your losses won’t be as substantial as with the Aggressive approach, which reduces your payout with each shot you take. Plus, you’ll have a chance to get the $200,000-worth Undetected bonus, the biggest incentive the Diamond Casino offers.
Bear in mind, however, that S&S is far from the easiest route you can take. It involves ten preparation missions, so you’ll lose a lot of time before the heist even begins. You’ll also have to invest more in your hackers, given the approach relies heavily on hacking. These reasons lead most newcomers to pick one of the other two methods.
You can pick whichever one suits your playing style the most. With a selected approach, you can begin the prep phase.
Second Stage — Prepare Your Heist
The prep stage takes the most time to complete as it involves hiring NPC crew members and completing tasks on your To Do list.
You can choose a specific gunman, driver, or hacker. Each option presents several characters; the more skilled they are, the higher the cut they require. However, those with more skills can help you tremendously. For example, the best hacker will get you the most time in the vault to grab as much of the contents as possible. The hacker is thus the most important crew member, so make sure to spend the most on them.
Everything else on your To Do list depends on your chosen approach. You’ll need specific equipment, including disguises, weapons, and getaway vehicles. Once again, better tools let you complete the heist more easily, but it’s the most expensive. Thankfully, you don’t have to get every tool, as some are not needed depending on the number of players you’re going with and your chosen approach.
Once you’ve completed everything, you can finally move on to the actual heist.
Third and Final Stage — The Heist
To start the heist, you need to choose the buyer. Each has a level — low, middle, and high. The higher the level, the more difficult the heist, but the higher the reward. A high-level buyer is best if you’ve completed all the previous missions and purchased the right equipment.
Unfortunately, we can’t guide you through the entire heist as it can materialize in numerous ways depending on the approach, the equipment you’ve bought, the crew members you’ve hired, and the intel you’ve gathered.
Once you steal the contents of the vault and get out of the casino, the only problem you might run into is the chasing helicopter. If you’ve bought the Clean Vehicle in the Prep stage, you’ll be fine, but you can also steal a car to get away. With some skill, you can get away with delivering the loot to the buyer.
Once you’re there, you’ll get a cutscene, and the mission will be complete. The payout will depend on the vault contents that are determined at random. There are four options:
- Cash — GTA$2,115,000
- Artwork — GTA$2,350,000
- Gold — GTA$2,585,000
- Diamonds — GTA$3,290,000
Naturally, you won’t get the entire reward. Lester will take his cut, and you’ll have to give each crew member their share. You’ll end up receiving somewhere between GTA$400,000 and $1,750,000.