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.

Please, whenever possible, link this post to help out your fellow players.
This is best with 2 players, if possible, to maximize profits.
You'll need an Arcade, here's a list of all of them.
I prefer the Eight Bit Arcade because of its location and accessibility to the Garage, as well as the fact that it makes most preps spawn in the same locations for easier completion of preps.

Here's a list if guides that'll help with getting started with the Diamond Casino Heist:

Scoping Out

Scope Out Guide [Skip to 4:36]
All Access Points
All Points Of Interest / POI

Tip 1:

While doing Casino Heist preps, you can make Lester shut up and show the mission objective faster by giving one of your contacts (Mechanic, Assistant, hell even Brucie) a call, as long as you know the contact you call will pick up the phone and not just leave you ringing.

Tip 2:

[Make sure to call Simeon or Martin and request a job before you start a prep, as you cannot request a job while doing Casino Preps]
In some missions you are unable to call Lester and call the cops off of you. During these missions, you can get the cops off of you for free by calling Simeon or Martin and request a job. Once you get the job, join it.
AS SOON AS YOU JOIN THE JOB, LEAVE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. If you don't quit, you run the risk of the Host starting the job and therefore cancelling the heist prep.
Once you leave the job, you'll be back in Freemode with no cops on you, and you'll still have your heist prep equipment.

Note:

There are two Access Points that are required for the way I run the heist, in Aggressive and The Big Con (Gruupe Sechs), being the sewer entrance on the right side wall in the first opening, and the tunnel entrance leading into the center of the track.

Scope out the Casino

Look for Artwork and Gold, as they are the best (unless Diamonds are available in the vault. In that case, Diamonds are the best)

Changing vault contents

If you've completed all three approaches (Silent & Sneaky, Aggressive & The Big Con), you'll have unlocked the ability to cancel the Casino Heist by calling Lester. You can use this to cancel the heist if you get Cash, or any Vault Content item you don't want.
If you find the Vault contents and get something you don't want, like Cash, you can call Lester while still in the Casino and cancel the heist. Go back to the Arcade and pay the 25k to start the heist again, and you should have a different item for your Vault Contents.
This will essentially allow you to get a second Vault Content item by trading 25k to start the heist a second time with about 8 minutes of finding and hacking / killing the Casino Security guy and going to the Casino.
If, once again, you get a Vault Content item you don't want, exit the arcade, call Lester & cancel the heist, enter your Arcade, rinse and repeat.

Personally, I cycle between Aggressive and The Big Con (Gruupe Sechs).

Now, because I prefer doing the heist through the Aggressive and The Big Con (Gruupe Sechs) approaches, I have little to no experience doing the Silent & Sneaky approach, and thus will be basing this post off of my personal experience in the other two approaches.
Note I'm not going to go into every single prep mission, mandatory or optional as that would take too much time for me. You can look up the rest of the preps on YouTube or Google. I'm only going over my preferred Gunman, Driver, Hacker, the preps that I prefer to do / prefer not to complete, and how I complete the heist.

Aggressive

Gunman: I prefer Patrick MacReary, 8%. I can't remember the other weapon available, but I know he allows you to choose an LMG with 100 round mags. I prefer to use the LMG. You can unlock by finding him in the back of a police van. Take the van to the objective area by following the yellow marker and you'll unlock him.
Driver: I prefer Karim Denz, 5%, which has decent vehicles. I prefer the Sentinel Classic.
Hacker: I prefer Paige Harris, 9%, which you can unlock by owning a Terrorbyte (which you can unlock by owning a Nightclub).

The preps I prefer to do are:

Unmarked Weapons, Getaway Vehicles, Hacking Device, Thermal Charges, Vault Explosives (I prefer to use a Stromberg while doing this mission), Reinforced Armor, Vault Keycards, Patrol Routes, Duggan Shipments, Security Intel (unlock by owning a penthouse and completing the penthouse missions), and Security Pass.
For the Reinforced Armor, I only do this if I have Gold or Diamonds as it slows you down. I also only do this if I am a low level or if I have low level teammates, because low level = low health. If I have Artwork or Cash I don't do this.
As for the Boring Machine prep, you don't need to have the Boring Machine to access the sewer. All you need to do is have took a picture of it and sent it to Lester during the Scope Out prep.

The Big Con

Gunman: I prefer Karl Abolaji, 5%. He has access to the Mini Uzi (I forget the in-game name) and the double barrel shotgun. I prefer the Mini Uzi. *You're going to be mostly going up to people and meleeing them / knocking them out instead of shooting them, unless you get caught, then you'll be shooting them.
Driver: I prefer Karim Denz, 5%, which has decent vehicles. I prefer the Sentinel Classic.
Hacker: I prefer Paige Harris, 9%, which you can unlock by owning a Terrorbyte (which you can unlock by owning a Nightclub).

The preps I prefer to do are:

Unmarked Weapons, Getaway vehicles, Hacking Device, Entry Disguises (2 preps), Vault Drills, Exit Disguise, Vault Keycards, Patrol Routes, Security Intel, and Security Pass.
I don't do Duggan Shipments as usually use my weapon to melee / knock out the security guards at the Casino, and since a melee is a one hit one kill, regardless of level of armor they're wearing, I don't usually do this mission.
Completing the Yung Ancestor missions allow you to have the Grotti Furia, a supercar, as an extra getaway vehicle, although it spawns in the parking lot which is surrounded by cops. I would not recommend doing this.
Again, 2 players are recommended. Start the Heist, get to the Vault. One of you work on the first main room with the big circle table in the centre while the other one will start hacking whichever doors lead to 2 or 3 Artwork or Gold / Diamond / Cash tables. Always go for the rooms that have more than one cart.
Tip: With Gold / Diamonds, you cannot sprint / run, you can however trot. If you go into First Person and tap / press and hold whatever your sprint / run button is, you'll see your character's weapon / screen shake, indicating that you're trotting. Doing this in First Person is actually faster than Third Person.

There are two was I like to lose the cops

1, through the sewer, and 2, by helicopter (Helicopter Route)
[Disclaimer: This strategy is not recommended if you're trying to get the Elite Challenge, as this will most likely take more than 15 minutes, or however long the given time is.]
Once you are out of the Casino, make it to the road. Drive to the sewer opening by the Casino, and if you don't have a car, just run to said sewer opening.

Note:

If you go back the way you came, or anywhere close to the Casino after you lose the cops, you will gain a wanted level again.
Proceed through the tunnel. You'll find a metal gate that you have to pass under, a small vent on the right side, and another vent on the left.
You'll come across 2 paths. Go up the metal ramp on the left. Proceed all the way down the tunnel and down the escalators and ramp downwards. Cross diagonally over the 2 train tracks into the next tunnel with a dirt floor.
You'll find 2 tunnels, left and right. Take either one. You'll find construction, go straight. After this, you'll see a big room. Go straight, take the immediate right and go up the ramps leading to the opening to the highway. If you dont have a car, get one or two and drive to the Buyer.

Links to my other posts, which consist of guides, and other useful things I've found & posted.

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

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

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:

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
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.
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 :)

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.

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.
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
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.

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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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

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

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

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.
---
Hope someone out there finds this guide helpful. Comments and suggestions appreciated.

AS OF NOW I WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATING THIS GUIDE
I’ll start by going in order of missions and adding extras as needed by editing the TBA (to be added) as soon as I can review the information
Leave any information you can in the comments fill in and I’ll add it in when I can
——The Scope Out——
Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: About 10 minutes
Description: the player must scope out as many points of interest if the can for the most options
Miscellaneous:
Vallet Security guard Purple keypad Inside (dome) camera Outside (box) camera Vault Blueprints (in mrs bakers office)(requires casino penthouse, or a friend with said penthouse)
Access points:
Ground (3)
Main entrance (west) Waste disposal (north) Staff lobby (east)
Roof terrace (4)
2 doors on the north side 2 doors on the east side
Roof (2)
North helipad South helipad
Underground (2)
Security tunnel (under dirt track) Sewer (the drainage ditch by the casino, there’s an entrance at the beginning of it, head down until you see some metal bars that would lead under the casino)
-important notes-
Once you have discovered every point of interest available in this setup, you won’t be able to do this setup for other heist because all poi’s are now permanently unlocked
——Vault contents ——
Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: about 5 minutes
Description: You are trying to find your target, the valuables you’ll be stealing during the heist To start this setup, you hack a guards phone to get into the casino’s system and then enter the casino to walk around and find a strong enough signal for Lester to hack into the cameras BE SURE YOU FULLY ROTATE ALL 6 CAMERAS TO THE TO UNLOCK THE REST OF THE POI’S, if already unlocked all poi’s just skip to the vault camera.
When scouting out the target it is completely random chance what you will be stealing from the casino
Cash is the basic takes and take a while to grab, but it can still pay about 2.1million Normal and 2.4million Hard total (minus crew cuts)
Paintings have better value and are the quickest to grab, to get them you must cut out the paintings but again this is really fast so you might be able to get a cheaper hacker or spend the extra time grabbing lock boxes, with this take you can make about ??million Normal and 2.7million Hard (minus crew cuts)
Gold has great value, it takes time to grab just like cash but is also a lot heavier, this means you can no longer jump but the reward is worth it because it can pay about ??million Normal and 2.8million Hard (minus crew cuts)
There’s also a glitch to get a lot more gold off one tray so abuse it before it gets patched
Diamonds have the greatest value and have just been officially added to the loot pool, you grab trays of diamonds like you would cash or gold and they are worth about ??million Normal and ??million Hard (minus crew cuts)
———Crew members and Characters———
These are free mode missions and secrets that can affect the casino heist by giving access to new characters and crew
There is also the standard crew for comparison
——Optional Characters——
Yung Ancestor
Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 2 minutes
Effect: adds another route to “The Big Con” Description: Head to the casino and go up to the roof terrace to enter a cutscene with the celebrity, afterwards Lester will contact him to ask if he would like to be involved with the job, a few minutes later you will get a call from Yung Ancestor saying he will help but needs a few favors to trust you
Find the rest of this missions details at the “Setups” section
——Hackers——
—Rickie Lukens—
Cut: 3%
Skill: Poor
Requirements: None
Vault time when undetected: TBA
Vault time when detected: about 1 minute 30 seconds
Notes: Please do not even consider using rickie
—Yohan Blair—
Cut: 5%
Skill: Good
Requirements: None
Vault time when undetected: TBA
Vault time when detected: TBA
Notes: TBA
—Christian Feltz—
Cut: 7%
Skill: Good
Requirements: None
Vault time when undetected: TBA
Vault time when detected: TBA
Notes: Use this character if you don’t have access to the next two
—Paige (Unlockable)—
Cut: 9%
Skill: Expert
Requirements: own a terrorbyte
Vault time when undetected: TBA
Vault time when detected: TBA
Notes: this is the best character to use since she is slightly cheaper then Avi
—Avi (Unlockable)—
Cut: 10%
Skill: Expert +
Requirements: “Destroy Signal Jammers” Free mode mission
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 20-40 minutes
Description: destroy all 50 signal jammers hidden across San Andreas for money and Avi’s services (guides available on YouTube)
Vault time when undetected: TBA
Vault time when detected: TBA
Notes: This character is great but if you have Paige use her since she’s slightly cheaper, the difference in time is minuscule
——Drivers——
(Unknown: unlockable) TBA this character has not been found yet
—Karim—
Cut: 5%
Skill: TBA
Requirements: None
Vehicle selection:
Sentinel Classic (best choice)
Weeni Issi Classic
Asbo (worst choice)
Kanjo
Notes: This driver is the best to pick, they always leave the cars as close to the staff lobby as they can
—TBA—
Cut: TBA
Skill: TBA
Requirements: None
Vehicle selection: TBA
Notes: TBA
—TBA—
Cut: TBA
Skill: TBA
Requirements: None
Vehicle selection: TBA
Notes: TBA
—Chester McCoy—
Cut: 10%
Skill: Expert
Requirements: None
Vehicle selection:
Vagrant
Everon
Zhaba
Outlaw
Notes: TBA
——Gunners——
—Karl Abolaji—
Cut: 5%
Skill: Poor
Requirements: None
Weapon selection:
TBA
Smg and molotovs (aggressive)
Micro smg (Big Con)
Double barrel shotgun (Big Con)
Notes: TBA
—Charlie Reed—
Cut: 7%
Skill: Good
Requirements: None
Weapon selection:
TBA
Machine Pistol (Big Con)
Sweeper Shotgun (Big Con)
Notes: TBA
—Patrick “Packie” McReary (unlockable)—
Cut: 8%
Skill: Expert
Weapon selection:
TBA
Compact rifle (Big con)
Sawed off shotgun (Big con)
Combat MG MKII (Aggressive)
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Time: Random Chance
Requirements: “Rescue Patrick” Free mode mission
Description: find a police van blaring it’s siren driving around Los Santos and Blaine county, when close enough a blue arrow will appear over the van and a blue dot will show up on your map indicating the vans location, by getting even closer Packie will ask you to help him and another person to “give us a hand?” The implication here is he wants you to steal the van and drive it
the way to go about this is just to shoot the van enough and it will eventually stop, allowing you to steal it and bring it to Packie’s safe house at Vespucci beach,
Notes: there is a 5 minute time limit that begins when you enter the van
Packie has the best weapon selection in aggressive but this does not outweigh how much he cost this is player choice
—Gustavo Mota—
Cut: 9%
Skill: Expert
Requirements: None
Weapon selection:
Carbine rifle (Big Con)
Assault shotgun (Big Con)
Notes: TBA
—Chester McCoy—
Cut: 10%
Skill: Expert
Requirements: None
Weapon selection:
TBA
SMG MKII (Big Con)
Bullpup Rifle MKII (Big Con)
Notes: not recommended because of cost
——Approaches——
It’s recommended to have 3 or 4 players for the best take
—SILENT AND SNEAKY—
Stealth difficulty: Hard
Loud Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Time: 15-20 minutes (minus restarts)
Description: Silent and sneaky is one of the stealth approaches, you go inside with tactical gear, night vision, suppressed weapons, tasers, and an emp bomb (if the setup is complete) that the host can activate (explained below) This hiest allows you to slip in undetected and you can still slip out undetected.
-Things to note-
When you enter the vault you will have a certain amount of time depending on your hacker and whether or not you are detected by the time you arrive to the vault, if you fail to leave the vault before the timer hits “0” gas will fill the vault and the alarm will trigger
Guards will be alerted to the following: seeing you, shooting a guard without a headshot (they yell), killing a guard next to another, a dead body, a bullet flying past them, a bullet hitting a wall, a guard watching you destroy a camera, and hearing unsuppressed gunfire
The casino will raise the alarm for the following: a guard being alerted, a camera spotting you, a camera spotting a dead body destroying more then one camera, and not leaving the vault before the clock hits “0”
Guards are oblivious to the following: getting a headshot or stealth melee even if the guard yells, destroyed cameras, the sound of broken glass, and the sight of broken glass
You can disable cameras with the taser, but they will come back online, you can also shoot and destroy one camera but destroy any more and the alarm will sound
If the host completed the EMP setup, they will have access to a phone app named “Detonate EMP” this will set off the EMP of course knocking out all electricity for about 1-2 minutes, this includes: cameras, locked doors, elevators, and lights (this will make guards have a really small cone of vision)
-Important notes-
Triggering the EMP does not raise the alarm (credit goes to u/Aleapp2556 for discovering this)
Not breaking stealth until outside will give an award
You can restart the heist at anytime by running out of lives
-Best plan of attack-
Enter the south helipad
Exit the staff lobby
High level buyer
Decoy driver (optional, lowers how many stars you have)
-Steps-
Enter the cargobob
Parachute to the casino
Rappel down the elevator shaft
(You are now in the staff lobby)
Take out everyone quietly
Proceed to elevator
(You are now at vault security)
Take out the remaining guards quietly
Enter the mantrap
Drill open the vault
(You are now in the vault and the timer has started)
Grab as much loot as possible, Dedicate one person to hacking
Leave before the timer ends
Exit the mantrap
Take the elevator or stairs up
(Alarm is now raised, but you are still undetected)
Take out the remaining guards and exit through the staff lobby
Get in the getaway car
Race to Paleto Bay
Escape the cops
Finish the heist
-Overall-
the hiest is slow and very difficult so this may not be the best option for grinding
—AGGRESSIVE—
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 8-11 minutes (minus restarts)
Aggressive is loud and violent, you shoot your way to the vault, blow it open, melt open the gates and steal the loot
-Things to note-
This heist is extremely fast compared to the other two approaches, it can be and has been done in under 9 minutes with high level buyers
there are no drills or hack in the vault itself, just explosives and thermal charges
You can restart the heist at anytime by running out of lives
-Best plan of attack-
Enter sewer(you blow a hole right into the security-room just before the mantrap leading to the vault)
Exit staff lobby
High level buyers
Gunner decoy (optional, but lowers your stars)
-Steps-
Blow into the vault security room from the sewers
(You are now in the vault security room)
Enter the man trap
Blow open the vault
(You are now in the vault)
Set off a thermal before you start grabbing and try to just get everything you can
Exit the vault
Exit the mantrap
Go to the staff lobby via elevator
Exit staff lobby
(At this point stealth no longer matters)
Enter getaway cars
Race to paleto bay
Escape police
Finish heist
-Overall-
this heist is fast and effective and I recommend cycling between both this and the big con
—THE BIG CON—
Stealth Difficulty: Easy or Medium-Hard (depends on route)
Loud difficultly: Hard
Time: 10-13 minutes (minus restarts)
The Big Con is the another stealth approach, but it’s less stealth and more lies and deceit, you use disguises to get your way into the casino with all your tools and equipment needed for the job
-Important things to note-
You only have a ceramic pistol unless you pick up your stashed weapons, but if you pick up those weapons you can no longer pass through metal detectors
Your weapons are not suppressed
Gruppe sechs can get inside the vault no problem
You unlock the ceramic pistol after you are done HOSTING The Big Con
Not breaking disguise until outside will give an award
You can restart the heist at anytime by running out of lives
-Best plan of attack-
Enter Gruppe sechs disguises
Exit noose disguises
Enter security tunnel
Exit staff lobby
High level buyer
Gunner decoy (lowers stars, only helpful if you are actually caught)
-steps-
Enter the security tunnel as gruppe sechs
Park the van
Get into the elevator
(You are now in the vault security room)
Walk on by the guards
Enter the man trap
A lone guard lets you into the vault, you knock him out
(You are now in the vault)
Grab the loot, mind the hacking, one mess up and the alarm goes off
Exit the vault
exit the mantrap
Take the stairs
(Alarm is raised but no one knows where you are)
Take the route to the laundry room
Change outfits
Exit staff lobby NOT MAIN ENTRANCE
(At this point stealth no longer matters)
Get to getaway vehicles
Race to paleto bay
Escape cops
Finish heist
-Overall-
this heist is very clean and quick if you do it right, id recommend doing this and aggressive if you really want to grind it
——About undetected——
When you sneak into the vault undetected you gain bonus time to grab even more loot then you would if the alarm was raised, failure to leave the vault before the gas is released will raise the alarm;
but you still received the bonus time to grab the loot anyhow, so it’s all up to you to either get the extra few lootables or make a clean getaway
——Hard Mode——
Hard mode (just like in normal heist) gives bigger cut with less lives, but this also buffs the security of the place
The way you access hard mode is by playing through a heist (we’ll say aggressive) and then the next (the big con), after playing aggressive it will become locked and unplayable so you have to pick another approach like big con, after that heist is done aggressive will unlock but it will still be “too hot” this is hard mode and will give a bigger cut for a harder heist that’s why it’s best to cycle between both aggressive and big con
——Heist crew——
For the best take each time you need to select the perfect members for the job
-Gunner-
Cheapest gunner all the way avoid shotguns
-Drivers-
If you want more money chose the cheapest driver and pick the sentinel classic, but if you want the trade prices for all the new vehicles you’ll need to use them during a heist
-Hacker-
Now unlike the other two, an expensive hacker is necessary for this job, this person will provide you with more time in the vault, this is where Paige and Avi come in handy
——Setups——
Setups are needed to find the materials necessary to pull off this job, some are mandatory and you cannot start the job with out them, some are optional and can be avoided but also can be the difference between dealing with a few enemies or a few mini-juggernauts
-Weapons- Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-8 minutes
Description: The player needs to steal untraceable weapons for the job, a pistol, a main weapon, and a piece of equipment depending on the approach
-Getaway vehicles-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 3-8 minutes
Description: The player needs to steal 2 vehicles that have just been imported into the US and bring them back to the arcade, if the cars are badly damaged you will have to pay a small fee to repair then on delivery
Important notes
The vehicles can be upgraded with
Level 1: bulletproof tires 10k (recommended)
Level 2: max brakes and transmission and level 1 upgrades 15k
Level 3: turbo and max engine plus level 1&2 upgrades 25k
-Hacking device-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Description: the player(s) go to a location being investigated by the FIB, the player(s) need to kill the FIB agents
Important notes
You can be in a guards vision but not for too long
Once you have the device and take the elevator down the guards will begin to shoot you
-Vault key cards-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 3-7 minutes
Description: the player(s) need to go to 2 separate locations and knock out or kill two security guards on their time off to steal their key cards
-Patrol routes-
Need: Optional
Usefulness for Sneaky and Silent: Needed
Usefulness for Aggressive: not necessary
Usefulness for The Big Con: Helpful
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 2-5 minutes
Description: the player(s) need to go to a parking lot where security guards have gathered, the player(s) will be looking for a car with a certain license plate that Lester will send, Once the player(s) find the car, they will need to open the trunk, take a picture, and send it to Lester
Important notes
This mission can be done by stealth
The car is always a black or light brown Falon GT convertible
-Dugan shipments-
Need: Optional
Usefulness for all heist: Absolutely Required
Difficulty: Medium
Time: less then 10 minutes
Description: The player(s) go around all of San Andreas to destroy 10 security shipments for the casino’s guards (this includes vans, boats, and helicopters)
Effect: for every couple of shipment destroyed, the guards armor will become weaker
No shipments destroy: every guard will have the health of a Cliffford Cyborg juggernaut
7 shipments destroyed: Health of a NOOSE squad member
10 shipments destroyed: Heath of a cop with body armor (3 Star wanted level officer)
Important notes
It is recommended to have 2 players in weaponized vehicles to destroy all the shipments
-Security Intel-
Need: Optional
Usefulness for Sneaky and Silent: Needed
Usefulness for Aggressive: not necessary
Usefulness for The Big Con: Helpful
Difficulty: N/A
Time: N/A
Description: The player needs to own a casino penthouse and do all casino missions for mrs baker
Effect: allows players to know the locations and vision of all cameras in the casino
Important notes
Once this setup is completed once it will be completed permanently
-Power drills-
Need: optional
Usefulness for all heist: Player’s choice but not necessary
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-8 minutes
Description: the player must steal power drills from a construction site by stealing a van and delivering it to the arcade
Effect: Gives the ability to drill open safety deposit boxes for a little bonus money (does not outweigh the main target in value)
Important notes
These missions can be completed by using non lethal tactics
-Security key cards-
Need: optional
Usefulness for all heist: absolutely required
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5-8 minutes
Description: the player must steal a security key card from a casino staff member
Effect Card Level 1: has the ability to give you access to few doors and access points, but nothing else in the higher security areas, those points will need to be hacked
Effect Card Level 2: gives player full access to all casino doors and elevators other then those in the vault
(A level 2 keycard is highly recommend and should be used in every single heist)
——Approach specific setups——
Some setups are specific to certain approaches and can be mandatory or optional
—Silent and Sneaky Setups—
-Vault Laser Drills-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: TBA
Time: TBA
Description: the player(s) need to steal 2 military grade laser drills to drill open the vault door
-TBA-
-TBA-
-EMP-
Need: optional
Usefulness: helpful
The player uses a cargo bob to carefully steal a EMP bomb and deliver it to the power station just across the road from the casino
Effect: give the host the ability to call the EMP to detonate it, this will shut down all electronics and lights for 1-2minutes, this mean cameras, locked doors, and metal detectors will be shut off during this time, and since the lights are off the guards have limited visibility, about 1 foot of vision in front of them
Important notes
Triggering the EMP does not raise the alarm (credit goes to u/Aleapp2556 for discovering this)
—Aggressive Setups—
-Vault explosives-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Time: 8-18 minutes
Description: the player(s) must travel to a part of the ocean to steal explosives from an underwater mining operation to blow open the vault door
-Thermal Charges-
Need: Mandatory
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Time: 8-16 minutes
Description: the player(s) must steal thermal charges to melt open the gates inside the vault
-Reinforced armor-
Need: Optional
Usefulness: helpful
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Time: TBA
Description: The player(s) steals a few sets of experimental armor from a faction to use in the heist as an option of clothing
Effect: unlocks the armor set to be used during the casino heist, the armor is like hiest heavy combat armor when used during the casino heist giving the players more Health but less Speed
-Boaring machine-
Need: Optional
Usefulness: TBA
Difficulty: Easy
Time: TBA
Description: The player steals a drilling machine from a driver hauling the machine
Effect: TBA
—The Big Con Setups—
-Drills-
-Disguises-
-TBA-
——Phase 1 equipment——
On the phase 1 planning board you can buy equipment for finding points of interest or practice on mini-game type puzzle you need to complete while going to or when you reach the vault, you can buy equipment such as:
a model of the casino for $130,000 (Which shows points of interest)
A replica of the casinos security system for $425,000 (for practice with hacking)
And a replica vault door for $900,000 (for practice with drilling)
By taking photos of the security system and vault blueprints in the casino you unlock the option to buy the security system and vault door for practice
Once the equipment is purchased, it will stay permanently in your arcades basement
In order to practice you will need the vault drills (explosives do not count) and/or the hacking device
These items will need to be sourced each time you start a new heist if you wish to practice
My personal recommendation is to avoid this equipment as it’s price greatly outweighs its purpose, since everything can be learn relatively easy during the actual run
——Hacking——
Here’s a quick guide on the hacking during the casino heist
First it should be noted that failing or aborting a hack while undetected will trigger the alarm
There are two types of hacking
Hack 1: Memory
A 6x6 panel of dots will randomize in a pattern of 6 dots going left to right, the player’s job is to memorize this pattern and recreate it to pass the hack, they player may need to do this several times
These hacks have been found really difficult and can be skipped entirely by having a level 2 keycard
Hack 2: finger print
The player is presented with a full image of a finger print and 8 fragmented images of a finger print, all the player must do is select 4 of the 8 fragments that match the full finger print and run the scan
This isn’t as hard as the memory hack, but this can waste time, so be quick but be sure in your decision
A tip for this is to go ahead and match the obvious ones and then study the smaller details of a fragment to try to find it on the full image
——Bugs, Exploits, and other Glitches——
PATCHED If the player leaves the session before finishing “Vault contents” the player can replay the setup for a chance at a better target such as paintings and gold instead of cash
During the heist, a police maverick will spawn on the roof of a nearby police station, the players can grab it before it takes off, but once it’s gone from the helipad it won’t respawn during the same heist even after a quick restart
PATCHED The player can duplicate the gold bar on a tray by leaving a single bar and leaving the tray, start collecting the tray again to spawn a new set of bars

Hi, I recently saw a lot of people saying that one of the absolute best ways of making money right now is doing the casiono heist. First off i need to say that i currently have no clue about all the different ways to do the heist and so on, i only know that there seem to be various ways and some of the prep missions are needed while some are optional. if i want to do the prep missions alone and the finale with one other guy and make the most money out of it;

Which general way of doing the Heist should i choose?
Which prep missions should i do?
Does the arcade that i have matter? currently i only have the paleto bay one i got for free, but i see that this week they are cheaper so should i buy another one and if so which one is the best?
Any vehicles i need for the prep? I currently have the Vigilante, both Oppressors, Khanjali, Insurgent, Deluxo, Rogue and the Hunter for my use, i hope that i dont need anything else in this category :D?
i heard that there is a money glitch, although i heard various things about "gold double glitches" and "replay glitches", what are those and which can and should i use?
I heard that the vault room in the casino is difficult with all these hacking games and stuff, any tips regarding that?
I saw that there are different people like hackers and stuff to hire, which of these people are worth that i should get them?

Huge thanks in advance, i would be really thankful for any help since i have no idea how to approach this heist and all the youtube videos around it seem to be clickbait

CASINO HEIST MONEY GUIDE
This is a guide on how to grind the casino heist effectively. You will need one friend for the finale for the end.
ADVANTAGES: Not as repetitive as CEO crates or Import/Export Lots of money
DISADVANTAGES: Requires one other friend to help
TIPS: Use a Buzzard, Thruster, or an Oppressor MKI or II. It speeds up the setups.
Register as a CEO/VIP, not an MC President so you won't get raided.
If you have a MOC, Avenger or Terrorbyte, you can enter it to instantly lose your wanted level the setup missions (Calling Lester or using Bribe Authorities won't work).
WHICH ARCADE TO BUY
To start the casino heist you will need an Arcade business. There are 6 in total: 1 located in Paleto. bay, 1 located in Grapeseed, and 4 of them are located in Los Santos. Obviously, the 4 ones in LS are the best. It really comes to personal preference as for which one to buy.
PREP MISSIONS
Scops out the casino if you haven't already. Make sure to scope out the Sewer Tunnel and the Security tunnel.
Do Vault Contents. If you get cash as loot, call. Lester to cancel heist and try again (quitting the game won't work).
CHOOSING YOUR APPROACH
Big Con is the easiest, since you can waltz right into the vault if you do the Gruppe Sechs disguises approach. Aggressive and Stealthy are harder, since you either have to shoot your way in or have to do things stealthy and avoid the cameras. I recommend doing Aggressive only if you have Artwork
CHOOSING YOUR CREW
Driver:
On all approaches, choose Karim (5% cut). You don't need great vehicles to escape the casino
Gunman:
On Big Con and Stealthy, choose the worst gunman (5% cut). You don't really need great guns since you don't need great guns for this approach.
On Aggressive, choose Packie McReary (7% cut) . You can unlock him in a random event.
Hacker:
If you're looting Diamonds or Gold, choose Paige (9% cut) If you're looting Paintings, choose Christian (7% cut). Make sure to leave the vault before the timer ends in Big Con or Stealthy approach so you don't alert the guards. For aggressive, you can stay in the vault for a she longer to finish looting after the nerve agent is released. You won't take that much damage. You'll also regenerate in the man trap.
WHICH OPTIONAL SETUPS SHOULD YOU DO?
Big Con:
You won't need any optional setups for this approach. Here's why. You won't be engaged in any gunfight as long as you don't set off the alarm. You will only need to hack 1 door, so security passes are unnecessary. Exit disguises are not worth the time. You can avoid the staff easily when escaping. However, if you're bad at stealth, get the High Roller disguise by collecting 54 playing cards.
Aggressive:
Do the Boring Machine setup so you can enter though the sewer tunnels. Do reinforced armour if you're bad at fighting enemies. Make sure to do Duggan Shipments, since you'll be fighting a lot of enemies. Lastly, masks. Masks will be provided for you, so you won't have to go buy masks.
Silent and Sneaky:
This approach requires the most preps. Do Patrol Routes and Security Intel so you can avoid being spotted. Do Lvl 2 security passes as you have to hack 3 doors. Lastly, do Duggan Shipments, as some of the guards wear helmets that have crazy Protection. If you are bad at stealth, do Infiltration Suits and EMP.
WHICH ENTERANCES/EXITS?
AGGRESSIVE:
Enter through Sewers, and exit through Staff Lobby.
STEALTHY:
Enter through roof/Staff Lobby, and exit through Staff Lobby.
BIG CON:
Enter through Security Tunnel (Gruppe Sechs disguises), exit though Staff Lobby.
HEIST FINALE
So after all the setup missions, you've finally reached the Heist Finale. Do not bother with the Clean Vehicles or the Gunman Decoy, they are useless. When silently killing the enemies in the Stealthy approach, note that enemies CANNOT see through bulletproof glass.
There is a mini-vault located in the first floor (same floor as Staff Exit), which contains the 'daily takings'. You can loot the vault and get around a 30-80k bonus. To enter the mini-vault, one person has to hold a button to open the mini-vault door, while the other person grabs the daily takings inside.
When escaping, if your getaway vehicle is really far, steal a civilian vehicle instead, it is much faster. After that, to lose the cops, you can drive into the sewers to lose the cops or you can take a helipoter in the nearby police station. MAKE SURE TO NEVER DRIVE NEAR THE CASINO AFTER YOU LOSE THE COPS, OR YOU WILL GET YOUR WANTED LEVEL BACK. Always choose the highest level buyer.
CONCLUSION
Thanks for reading my guide. If I missed anything or got something wrong, make sure to leave it in the comments.

I just started playing gta5 online and I'm shocked how many bugs there are, as well as how many hackers there are. Even the basics are bugged, like having to use task manager to close out the lobby, or restarting my computer when I log out and want to get back in. Then there is when I am in game, basic big quests are broken, and have been for a while. A good example is buying a mask for the casino job. Or if any part of my clothing or style changes due to an event like a misson or water, you either can't take something off like a scuba mask or your clothes change. Then there is having to start a mc every time I log in. On top of that, there is the hacking. Every single time I have logged on in the last 3 weeks someone was in my game hacking one way or the other.
Finally game play..why is everything instanced. And why can't we pick our own type of mission to do...for example getaway cars for the big heist, i keep getting the cop misson which is harder than it should be solo.
Did Rockstar stop fixing bugs years ago? Bc I have checked threads and these bugs have been around for years.
The game concept is good but this is so bad I wonder if the brand is doomed.

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.

Useful media

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 haven’t really seen anybody talking about these two topics, despite them both being vital to a heist’s success. I compiled as much information as I could about them into this post. This is part of a larger guide I’m working on. This guide isn’t finished, but far as I know everything here is correct. Let me know if I made a mistake.
Vault Contents: The target of your heist. The contents of the vault are randomly chosen during each heist. But they’ll always be one of four options. If you’re playing on hard mode, the value of each target will be increased by 10%, so keep that in mind.

Cash ($2,115,000)
- Identical to Pacific Standard; just grab and go. You’re guaranteed to get cash as your target during your first heist. Cash is both the most common and least valuable target, so use a smaller, cheaper team to maximize your profits.
Art ($2,350,000)
- Attached to the walls of the vault. Artwork only has to be cut out of its frame, which takes 10 seconds at worst. The speed at which Artwork can be collected makes it one of the most profitable targets, since it requires a smaller team and gives you extra time to deal with the deposit boxes.
Gold ($2,585,000)
- Its like cash, but heavier, and much more valuable. Your speed will decrease depending on how much gold you’re carrying, and you’ll eventually lose your ability to jump. Either disperse the gold evenly between your teammates, or have two “mules” collect all of it. This is a three man job, at least. Communicate, and give yourself extra time to escape the vault.
Diamonds ($3,290,000)
- The rarest, easiest, and by far most valuable target at the casino. In fact, they’re so rare that they’re *only available during weekly events*, and that isn’t a guarantee. They're collected like cash, but there’s always a lot of them. Bring a large, experienced crew if this is your target, and don’t bother with drilling.

Additional Targets: The vault’s main targets should always come first, but consider these options if you have the time.

Daily Safe ($5,000-$100,000?)
- A smaller vault on the upper level of the casino, holding the day’s profits. The amount of money that it holds is random. Depending on the route that you take, the daily safe may be too dangerous to access. Go for it if you have the time, preferably before you reach the vault.
Deposit Boxes ($0-$5,000 each, determinant)
- Regardless of your main target, these miniature safes will always decorate the walls of the vault, taunting you with their ambiguous value. You can only open them if you complete the power drill prep, which is optional. The value of each box is random; some of them are worth up to $5,000, and some of them are empty. Regardless, they’ll always generate in clusters of four, so it’s pretty easy to go through a bunch of them. Never choose the deposit boxes over your primary target, but consider cracking a few open on your way out. They’re great for padding your score during an aggressive run.

Gunmen: These guys provide all of your firepower during the heist. Go cheap here, unless you're taking the aggressive approach.

Karl Abolah (5%)
- Need More Information (Aggressive)
- Micro SMG/Double-Barreled Shotgun, Ceramic Pistol (Big Con)
- Machine Pistol/Micro SMG, Vintage Pistol, Stun Gun (Silent and Sneaky)
- He's only here to pay for his tithe. Terrible gun selection, but that won’t be a problem for good crews.
Charlie Reed (7%, Determinant)
- Need More Information
- Ex-military. Provides adequate firepower for a reasonable price.
  - Unlocked by setting up a Hangar.
Packie McReary (8%, Determinant)
- Needs More Information (Aggressive)
- Sawed-off Shotgun/Compact Rifle, Ceramic Pistol (Big Con)
- Combat PDW/Assault Rifle, Pistol .50, Stun Gun (Silent and Sneaky)
- You need a gunner, and he needs a distraction. Perfect for every approach.
  - Unlocked by rescuing him from the LSPD.
Gustavo Mota (9%)
- Assault Shotgun/Carbine Rifle, Combat PDW, Proximity Mines (Aggressive)
- Assault Shotgun/Carbine Rifle, Ceramic Pistol (Big Con)
- Assault Shotgun/Carbine Rifle, Pistol .50, Stun Gun (Silent and Sneaky)
- He's a pro. Nothing else to say.
Chester McCoy (10%)
- Pump Shotgun Mk II/Assault Rifle Mk II, SMG Mk II, Pipe Bombs (Aggressive)
- SMG Mk II/Bullpup Rifle Mk II, Ceramic Pistol (Big Con)
- Pump Shotgun Mk II/Carbine Rifle Mk II, Pistol .50, Stun Gun (Silent and Sneaky)
- Provides the best weapons by far. Worth the price, especially if you're rushing things.
  - Unlocked by setting up an MOC.
  - Available as both a Gunman and a Driver.

Drivers: The quality of your driver determines the quality of your getaway vehicle. Each driver works best for different situations, so get experimental.

Karim Denz (5%)
- Asbo
- Issi Classic
- Kanjo
- Sentinel Classic
- Shockingly decent selection for the cost. Worth the price for an experienced crew.
Zach Nelson (6%, Determinant)
- Manchez
- Stryder
- Defiler
- Lectro
- Only provides motorcycles, and always sources four of them. Good for large, confident groups. Frustrating for lone wolves.
  - Unlocked by setting up an MC Clubhouse.
Taliana Martinez (7%)
- Drift Yosemite
- Jugular
- Retinue Mk II
- Sugoi
- An experienced getaway driver who values balanced performance over anything else. Expect an easy escape.
Eddie Toh: (9%)
- Ellie
- Gauntlet Classic
- Komoda
- Sultan Classic
- Great selection of street cars. Only choose Eddie if you can lose the cops before reaching Blaine County.
Chester McCoy (10%, Determinant)
- Everon
- Outlaw
- Vagrant
- Zhaba
- Provides a great catalog of off-road vehicles to choose from. Worth the price, for your first heist.
  - Unlocked by setting up an MOC.

Hackers: Your most important crew member. These guys determine how long you can stay in the vault before the nerve gas is deployed. Don't cheap out here; go with your best option.

Rickie Lukens: (3%)
- 1:30 loud
- 2:30 quiet
- no
Yohan Blair (5%, Determinant)
- 1:45 loud
- 2:45 quiet
- Not a hacker by trade, but desperate for a hobby. In terms of hackers, you should consider him the ground floor.
  - Unlocked by setting up a Nightclub
Christian Feltz (7%)
- 2:00 loud
- 3:00 quiet
- The best hacker that you don't have to unlock, which is a nice way of calling him an amateur. That being said, an experienced team could make him work.
Paige Harris (9%, Determinant)
- 2:25 loud
- 3:25 quiet
- Arrogant, and for a good reason. She's your best choice, but unlocking her can be offputting.
  - Unlocked by setting up the Terrorbyte.
Avi Schwartzman (10%, Determinant)
- 2:30 loud
- 3:30 quiet
- Equally brilliant and neurotic. Not much better than Paige, but you don't need to spend $3 million to unlock him. Good for professionals, cheapskates, and completionists.
  - Unlocked by destroying all 50 signal jammers.

Casino Heist - Maximum Payout, Vault Time & Contents

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There's nothing like GTA: Online, for better and for worse

Diamond Casino Heist Guide

Here's a list if guides that'll help with getting started with the Diamond Casino Heist:

Scoping Out

Tip 1:

Tip 2:

Note:

Scope out the Casino

Changing vault contents

Personally, I cycle between Aggressive and The Big Con (Gruupe Sechs).

Aggressive

The preps I prefer to do are:

The Big Con

The preps I prefer to do are:

There are two was I like to lose the cops

Note:

Diamond Casino Guide

Gold Glitch Hacking Decision Tree 3.0 + Comprehensive Vault Guide for Gold & Artwork

A complete guide to making an easy 2-3 million every few hours by grinding the Casino Heist

A Beginner's Guide to Making Money in GTA Online

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

Getting Started

Scoping and Vault Contents

Choosing Approaches

Support Crew

Optional Preps

Finale Screen

The Big Con

Silent & Sneaky

Aggressive

The Getaway

Bugs

Casino Heist Guide, what you need to know and other features

Making money with the Diamond Casino Heist Solo/Duo?

CASINO HEIST MONEY GUIDE

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Diamond Casino Guide

Diamond Casino Heist Guide: Vault Contents & Support Crews

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