Where Is GTA V’s Casino Content?
When Grand Theft Auto V was first sold to the public, one of the quickest observations to surface broadly online was that there was a casino in Los Santos… but it wasn’t open for business. What initially seemed like an obvious hint at future DLC has since become a source of frustration among some GTA V players who were hoping for chances to enter a gambling environment within the game. Not to mention, committing casual GTA style crimes like holding up blackjack tables just sounds really fun.
So where is the casino content we were all expecting? Since the release of GTA V on Playstation and Xbox devices and for PC, we’ve seen various DLC packs. As players have further explored Los Santos and the surrounding areas, many wonders of Rockstar’s latest crime-ridden world have been discovered. For example, did you know that you can guide your characters to a parlor to ink tattoos, or that you can ride roller coasters and play golf? These are a few popular highlights shared by WhatCulture, and they’re ultimately only a tiny sampling of the treats and activities littered throughout this game. But amidst them all, the casino remains closed.
However, rumors resurfaced this past August that a casino opening is on the way. After numerous reports of “glitches” allowing players to get in and explore a mostly empty casino space, Product Reviews posted a more substantive glimpse at potential hints of casino DLC. Specifically, the report acknowledged a known GTA V hacker’s discovery of a number of lines of code allegedly obtained from Rockstar, all of which seem to be pointing toward the design and opening of the Los Santos casino. That’s far from the official announcement fans have been hoping for, but it’s at the very least an encouraging sign that Rockstar seems to be working on the idea.
But what exactly will the casino entail? The same article in Product Reviews teases fans asking if they’re ready to gamble their GTA money away, and at first that will be the main function of the casino. But will that GTA money be gambled in a similar fashion to what we see in actual Internet casinos?
Many without experience with the activity imagine online poker as a complex and deeply involved world of gambling, but there are also examples of simpler platforms online that could potentially serve as models for a more interactive game-within-the-game for Rockstar. Betfair Poker offers an online gaming service in which players can use existing accounts to join scheduled tournaments. Or they can simply sit in on casual games and cash out as they please. For those interested, you can download the client software here, perhaps getting a leg up on your future GTA competition. It’s this kind of easy flexibility that caters to all different kinds of players, and it could provide a simple, casual model for the GTA V casino. This is assuming that money (that is, fake money, rather than actual cash) can be gambled between players, and not just against the CPU. This is the sort of interactive capability that could take the extra activity in G TA V to the next level (though it would of course have to be connected to GTA Online).
The hopez of many ambitious gamers would be that somewhere down the line, when online gambling is more universally legalized, the GTA games could include their own real-money casinos. But in the meantime, the hints that GTA V’s casino doors will be opening (hopefully in the near future) are encouraging, and the hope that the activity within will mimic actual online casinos can’t be too far off!