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GTA Online business · The Diamond Casino Heist

Arcade

Lester's front for The Diamond Casino Heist: a games arcade with a planning basement underneath and a small office safe that fills from the cabinets on the floor.

  • Heist headquarters
  • Active + passive
  • Solo, with limits
To buy in
$1,235,000 – $2,530,000
Management
Low
Raids
Not confirmed
Buy first
No other business
Track your Arcade in Vice ProfileCompare with other businesses

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Arcades

What the Arcade is

The Arcade is first and foremost the base for The Diamond Casino Heist. The scoping, the preparations and the finale are all planned from the basement beneath it.

Upstairs it is a working arcade. The cabinets you put on the floor pay into a safe in the manager's office, which makes it a heist headquarters with a modest passive income on the side rather than a production business.

What you get

  • The heist planning area in the basement, where Lester runs the job and where any support crew you hire turns up.
  • An office safe that collects the arcade's takings, and a laptop for buying cabinets to fill the floor.
  • Room for optional extras: living quarters, a vehicle garage, a terminal that runs your other businesses, a drone station and practice gear for the heist.

Before you buy

What you need

  • Meet Lester Crest in Mirror Park; after that the arcades go on sale at Maze Bank Foreclosures.
  • Planning and hosting The Diamond Casino Heist needs you to be running an organisation as VIP or CEO, or a club as MC President.

How to start

Once you have met Lester in Mirror Park, buy one of the arcades from Maze Bank Foreclosures.

The first setup job sends you after missing equipment: take a flatbed truck from its driver and bring it back to the arcade. After that the place opens, but it only becomes fully operational once you have finished the Casino Scoping setup for Lester.

Upgrades and cabinets can only be added once the setup missions are done.

How it runs and makes money

Buy cabinets on the laptop in the arcade and place them on the floor through Arcade Management in the Interaction Menu. The more floor slots that hold a machine, the more the safe collects, and the top rate does not need the most expensive cabinets.

The safe only fills while you are in a session, and once it is full it stops until you empty it, so visit now and then to collect.

For the heist, scope the casino, discover what the vault holds, then choose an approach: Silent & Sneaky, The Big Con or Aggressive. The preparation jobs gather the equipment, crew and getaway vehicles that approach needs, and at the end of the finale the host picks a buyer, with further-off buyers paying more.

With the Master Control Terminal installed, the arcade also becomes an office for your other businesses: buy their supplies, start their missions and buy their upgrades from one desk.

  • Setup: Equipment

    Setup

    Track down the arcade's missing equipment, take the flatbed truck carrying it and drive it back to the property.

  • Setup: Casino Scoping

    Setup

    Photograph the casino's security and ways in for Lester; finishing it makes the arcade fully operational.

  • Heist Prep: Vault Contents

    Setup

    Look through the casino's security cameras to find out what is in the vault, which opens the choice of approach.

  • The Diamond Casino Heist: Preparations

    Heist1–8 players

    Freemode jobs that collect the equipment, crew and getaway vehicles for the chosen approach.

  • The Diamond Casino Heist

    Heist2–4 players

    The raid on the casino vault, played in one of the three approaches, with a crew of at least two.

  • Arcade passive income

    Passive income

    The cabinets on the floor pay a daily amount into the office safe until it is full.

Playing alone

The safe income needs nobody, and the setups and preparation jobs can be done by the boss alone.

The finale cannot be played solo: it needs at least one partner. Smaller crews take a bigger share each.

Figures

Only values two independent checks agree on. Payouts can change with updates, bonuses, lobby and difficulty.

Capacity

Vehicles the basement garage holds, once bought
10

Limits and timers

Fewest players for the casino heist finale
2
Most players for the casino heist finale
4

Upgrades

Ordered by our rule: upgrades that raise production or value first, then ones some content needs, then the rest.

  • Personal Quarters

    Depends how you play

    A living area with a bed, a weapon locker and a wardrobe. It is the one option that must be bought again if you move to another arcade.

    Convenience

    $150,000

  • Garage

    Depends how you play

    Opens the basement garage for your personal vehicles; without it the way in stays bricked up.

    Storage

    $215,000

  • Master Control Terminal

    Depends how you play

    A desk in the basement that runs your other businesses' computers: buy supplies, start resupply and sale missions, buy upgrades, check stock and promote a Nightclub.

    Convenience

    Needs: Needs the arcade's setup finished, and only manages businesses you already own.

    Price not confirmed

  • Drone Station

    Depends how you play

    Lets you fly surveillance drones from the basement, and adds a small drone with a stun weapon and a self-destruct that you can use in freemode.

    Convenience · Unlocks content

    Price not confirmed

  • Door Security

    Depends how you play

    A copy of the casino's door keypads for practising the hacks you will meet inside.

    Convenience

    Price not confirmed

  • Vault Door

    Depends how you play

    A practice vault door for rehearsing the way into the vault.

    Convenience

    Needs: Photograph the vault blueprints in Agatha Baker's office while scoping the casino.

    Price not confirmed

  • Casino Model

    Depends how you play

    A model of the casino that shows where you might get in.

    Convenience

    Price not confirmed

Where you can buy it

Prices are shown only where confirmed. A cheaper site is not automatically a worse one: where your missions send you matters too.

There are six arcades. The ones in Paleto Bay and Grapeseed are the cheapest and the most remote; the Davis, La Mesa, Rockford Hills and Vinewood arcades cost more and sit inside Los Santos.

Moving to another arcade later keeps your cabinets, layout, heist gear and storage. Only the personal quarters have to be bought again.

  • Warehouse - Davis

    Price
    $2,135,000
    Area
    Davis

  • Videogeddon - La Mesa

    Price
    $1,875,000

  • Eight-Bit - Vinewood

    Price
    $2,530,000

  • Insert Coin - Rockford Hills

    Price
    $2,345,000

  • Wonderama - Grapeseed

    Price
    $1,565,000

  • Pixel Pete's - Paleto Bay

    Price
    $1,235,000

Risks and common mistakes

Risks

Rival players in a public session can steal preparation equipment from you; the prep jobs can be run in invite-only, friend or crew sessions instead.

Access to the arcade cannot be limited room by room. If it is public, other players can walk into the office and the basement.

Sell jobs started from the Master Control Terminal still send you to the business itself to pick up the goods against the clock, which can make a distant sale hard to finish alone.

Common mistakes

  • Leaving the safe full: it stops collecting until you empty it.
  • Buying the most expensive cabinets for income: filling the floor slots is what raises the rate.
  • Expecting to finish the casino job alone: the preparations can be done solo, but the finale needs a partner.

Good to know

Before you buy

  • Arcades are offered once you have met Lester Crest in Mirror Park, and are bought from Maze Bank Foreclosures.
  • The casino heist can only be planned and hosted by the boss of an organisation or motorcycle club who owns an arcade with its setup done.

Setting up

  • There are six arcade locations to choose from.
  • The first setup has you take a flatbed truck from its driver and bring the arcade's equipment back to the property.
  • After the equipment job the arcade can be used, but it is only fully operational once the Casino Scoping setup is finished.
  • Setting up the casino heist costs nothing the first time; later setups charge a fee.
  • Once the vault contents are known, the host chooses between Silent & Sneaky, The Big Con and Aggressive.

What it unlocks

  • Upgrades and cabinets can only be added after the setup missions are complete.
  • Cabinets are bought on the laptop inside the arcade and placed on the floor through Arcade Management in the Interaction Menu.
  • A Mansion's optional arcade room can only be bought by someone who owns an arcade and has finished its equipment setup.

Safe income

  • The arcade's income collects in a safe in the manager's office; it grows with the number of floor slots holding a cabinet, and the top rate does not need the dearest machines.
  • When the safe is full it stops collecting until you take the money out.
  • The arcade's passive income only builds while you are logged into a session.

Links to other businesses

  • Through the Master Control Terminal a CEO reaches the cargo and vehicle warehouses, the Bunker, the Hangar and the Nightclub, and an MC President reaches the biker businesses.

Selling

  • A sale started from the Master Control Terminal still needs you to travel to the business to collect the goods while the timer runs.

Meters

  • Promoting the Nightclub from the Master Control Terminal raises its popularity straight away, with no cutscene.
  • The arcade's property fee is taken every in-game day you spend in the same session, and was lowered with The Contract update.

Moving and trading in

  • Moving to another arcade carries over your cabinets, layout, heist gear and storage; only the personal quarters must be bought again.

Playing alone

  • The setups and preparation jobs can be done by the boss alone and in invite-only, friend or crew sessions; in public sessions rivals can steal the equipment.
  • The heist finale needs at least two players, and a smaller crew means a bigger share for each.

What it connects to

Linked businesses

  • Special Cargo Warehouses — The Master Control Terminal can buy supplies for, start missions for and upgrade your Special Cargo Warehouses.
  • Vehicle Warehouse — The Master Control Terminal gives a CEO access to the Vehicle Warehouse from the arcade.
  • MC Businesses — An MC President can run all the biker businesses from the Master Control Terminal.
  • Bunker — Bunker supplies and sales can be handled from the Master Control Terminal.
  • Hangar — Hangar air freight can be managed from the Master Control Terminal.
  • Nightclub — The Master Control Terminal handles Nightclub supplies and sales, and promotes the club without a cutscene.
  • Mansions — A Mansion's arcade room needs an owned arcade with its equipment setup done.

Sensible next purchases

  • Kosatka — The Kosatka is another heist base needing no other property first, and its heist can be finished alone.
  • Nightclub — A Nightclub adds a passive business of its own, and the arcade's terminal can then run it from the basement.
Contacts
Lester Crest, Wendy, Jimmy De Santa, Agatha Baker
Vehicles
  • Flatbed — The truck taken from its driver in the equipment setup.
  • Nano Drone — The small freemode drone that comes with the Drone Station.