GTA Online's Diamond Casino (opens in new tab) has proved to be a popular destination. The once disused building opened its doors last week, beckoning players in with the promise of riches and lots of things to spend those riches on, including some new luxury apartments. According to Rockstar, GTA Online's citizens are wild for gambling, resulting in the game's busiest single day and week since launch, six years ago.
Rockstar hasn't revealed player numbers, though it once again shot to the top of Steam's top sellers. SteamDB (opens in new tab) also shows a spike in player numbers, the largest one since launch, so we can expect a similar trend on consoles.
It's impressive for a game of its advanced years, but GTA Online has been consistently drawing in players since launch and sees regular spikes. It helps that GTA 5 is one of the best-selling games of all time.
While GTA Online's in-game currency is used to purchase chips, netting you one chip for one dollar, Rockstar also sells that in-game currency. While Rockstar is no doubt enjoying the fruits of that right now, it has barred the update from launching in more than 50 countries (opens in new tab) with stricter gambling laws.
Chris Livingston visited the casino with a bag of money and big dreams, but he left unimpressed. To spice things up, he reckons GTA Online's casino desperately needs Red Dead Online's horses and poker (opens in new tab), because right now it's a bit dull. I say it needs to go further. We're talking about a game where you can race cars in giant tubes suspended in the sky, so a regular casino seems a bit conservative.
Cheers, Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab).