The Diamond Casino Heist

Updated 30 October 2026 · Fan site. Not affiliated with Rockstar Games or Take-Two Interactive.

The Diamond Casino Heist is a GTA Online heist released on 12 December 2019. Lester Crest and Georgina Cheng hire the player to rob the vault of The Diamond Casino & Resort in Los Santos as revenge on the Duggan family. Planning runs from an arcade, and players pick one of three approaches: Silent & Sneaky, The Big Con or Aggressive.

What is the Diamond Casino Heist?

The Diamond Casino Heist is a robbery of the Diamond casino in GTA Online. Wikipedia dates the update to 12 December 2019, a few months after the casino itself opened in The Diamond Casino & Resort update on 23 July 2019. It was the second big December heist after The Doomsday Heist of 2017, and it was followed a year later by The Cayo Perico Heist. Our GTA heists page lists the full run of Online heists.

Why do you rob the Diamond Casino?

It is a family feud. GTA Wiki explains that Tao Cheng was pushed into selling the casino to the Duggan crime family and went back to Hong Kong in 2019. His sister Georgina, vice president of the family's holding company and a daughter of the Triad leader Wei Cheng, then asks the player and Lester Crest to empty the vault. Wikipedia sums her motive up as payback against the Duggans. GTA Wiki adds that Georgina arranges the first meeting, helps set up the arcade and puts the crew up at a hotel, and that she and Lester begin a romance after the job.

Why do you need an arcade?

Wikipedia says players buy an arcade to act as a front for planning the job. GTA Wiki notes the host must own a set-up arcade and be active as a CEO, VIP or motorcycle club president, the same roles that run GTA Online businesses. The first setup is free, while later runs carry a setup fee. Optional extras in the arcade let the crew practise on models of the casino, its door security and the vault door.

How does the Diamond Casino Heist work?

The casino came first. Wikipedia says The Diamond Casino & Resort update of 23 July 2019 opened the building to players and added a penthouse they could customise. Five months later, the heist update made it a target.

Everything starts with scoping. GTA Wiki describes a mission in which the player photographs a guard, a keypad and a security camera, marks entry points around the building, and then hacks the camera feed to see what is in the vault that day. The vault can hold cash, artwork, gold or diamonds. With that done, the host chooses an approach.

The approach names come from GTA Wiki, which awards a separate bonus for finishing each one in its intended style, such as staying undetected on Silent & Sneaky. Prep missions follow in freemode and can be played in public sessions or in invite-only, friend or crew sessions, GTA Wiki says. According to Wikipedia they can be done by one player, but the heist finale needs at least two.

Who is in the crew?

Besides the two to four players, Wikipedia says the team can hire computer-controlled accomplices who each take a different share of the money. GTA Wiki adds that better-paid support crew usually do a better job, and that each player gets at least 15 percent of the finale earnings. One gunman, Patrick "Packie" McReary from GTA IV, is unlocked through an award. The host also picks a buyer for the loot. GTA Wiki says better buyers pay more but meet the crew further away, which makes the getaway longer.

The heist also rewards replaying it. GTA Wiki lists bonus awards for completing every approach, for finishing on Hard difficulty without losing a life, and for clearing elite challenges across all three approaches. The scoping mission itself can be replayed, and the vault contents differ between runs.

Prep equipment can be stolen by rival CEO, VIP and motorcycle club players in the same session, so busy public lobbies add risk. We have left out cash figures for the vault and the buyers because Online payouts change with updates.

How was the Diamond Casino Heist received?

Wikipedia notes that the casino update of 2019 won Best Game Expansion at the Golden Joystick Awards, and it lists a Eurogamer review from December 2019 that called the heist the most thrilling score in GTA Online. Wikipedia also cites reports that the earlier casino update could not be accessed in more than 50 countries at launch.