The Grand Theft Auto Online Casino is finally prepping to open its doors to eager players! The building has been in the game since the beginning but has always been closed. As GTA Online has developed, other buildings have opened to eager players while the Casino remained shut.
As is often the case, a dataminer first stumbled upon the information deep in the files of the game. TezFunz2, a well-known dataminer in the GTA Online community, found data that suggested a gradual opening of the Casino until players finally gain full access after renovations are complete.
Some players are speculating about the timing of the move relative to the addition of poker and other gambling games in Red Dead Online, the equivalent online portion of Red Dead Redemption 2. Before introducing gambling to GTA Online, Rockstar Games must address one significant difference between how both games handle the money used to wager.
In Red Dead Online, microtransactions exist to purchase gold bars, which can then be used for a variety of items in game. However, gold bars are completely separate from the cash currency used for gambling. This means that players cannot use real money to buy more funds for in-game gambling.
However, GTA Online does not have a second currency to implement in a similar way, it only has the one which can be acquired with real money. Whether or not Rockstar Games plans to add this second form of currency is not yet known, but nothing has be mentioned formally, nor have dataminers located any such information in the game files.
The simplest way to handle this issue would be to create Casino-specific currency that can only be obtained from in-game missions, as is the case in Red Dead Online. Alternatively, cash that is purchased with real money and deposited into the Maze Bank could simply be kept off limits for use in the Casino. Either solution would work, but there must certainly be something in mind.
Another point to consider is whether Rockstar will ban players from entering the casino or participating in gambling depending on their region. This is the case in Red Dead Online, where certain countries prohibit online gambling and Rockstar blocks players in those areas in an effort to adhere to local regulations.
One thing is certain, and that is that the opening of the Casino will be a welcome addition to the game. Hopefully, players won't lose all of their money on the first day!
GTA Online can be played on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows.