Tuesday 23 July Diamond Casino and Resort opens its doors. An unrivalled luxurious centre of play and entertainment, providing visitors and members with all comforts. Blackjack, poker and roulette in the Diamond are almost no more games. Every card dealt, turn of the wheel, wink of the croupier it's deception at the highest level, it's art.
Like everything else in the Diamond Casino and Resort. The art of creating game software . Because this high-tech casino and luxury residence is located in Grand Theft Auto 5 from Rockstar, the most successful video game maker of the moment.
Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013. The online version promised to become a playground of activity. And it did! Players could decide for themselves what to do. Street racing, tennis, mountain biking, skydiving. It was all possible and Rockstar promised that it would regularly come up with expansions and new content.
So, the latest major expansion is the Diamond Casino and Resort. It has long been on the wish lists of avid players of GTA. But it also fits perfectly into Rockstar's commercial strategy.
You will find the casino northeast of The Vinewood Hills, near the race track. Open the map to set up your navigation, or just drive in the right direction: when you are in the vicinity you will automatically see a casino icon appear.
Diamond Casino and Resort. On the left the bar, on the right in the back the slot machines and the wheel of Fortune.
And in the zeitgeist around gambling. Many countries liberalize gambling, the online technology behind it has greatly improved and online gambling is more or less established. In Diamond Casino and Resort you can gamble. You can get there play on slot machines and other slot machines, a playing cards at blackjack either Play poker or roll a ball at the roulette table.
You can bet on virtual sports competitions, such as those of animated horses. Because GTA 5 remains a game of course, although that is now close to the real online games world. But, probably, you can, cleverly or, on the contrary, will not turn out the future, playing only with GTA coin money. It will, again, probably be separate from the currency used elsewhere in GTA 5.
Rockstar is one of the few game makers that hardly, actually no, gives information in advance. They announced the arrival of the casino only a month ago. They built a special website for the casino and filmed a trailer. More information did not come.
Probable location of the Diamond Casino & Resort. The existing buildings have obviously been demolished.
That the casino would come there was the subject of rumors for a long time. In particular, Tez2, an avid follower of Rockstar Games, made mention of it early on. Furthermore, there was the hopeful sign ‘soon to be opened’ and the unraveling of software code that would refer to a casino.
The location of the casino, according to many sources, is undoubtedly the premises of the clubhouse of The Lost MC. That site is now a group of buildings in East Vinewood, Los Santos in the state of San Andreas.
But from the 23rd, the rumors are over and everyone can take a look for themselves. It's free, as confirmed by Rockstar. With the so-called’ Casino and Resort membership ' (casino and luxury stay membership) you can enter the casino for free, order a drink, gamble and chill in the resort.
In addition, there is a VIP membership. You'll have to pay for that. In fact, you are buying a digital penthouse with it. Basically in the same way as players could buy real estate before. Rooms and services can be linked to the penthouse. Whether they cost money or not, however, we should probably link the word to that again. Rockstar doesn't know yet.
What Rockstar does let us know, although perhaps not entirely voluntarily, are the sales figures of GTA 5. Their accounting shows impressive figures. Rockstar announces 90 million sales of the 5th version of GTA. Grand Theft Auto 5 is worth $ 6 billion. Of course, a lot of costs have to come from that.
But in revenue comparison, GTA 5 is at a lonely height. The game's revenue is more than twice that of The Hollywood movie with the most revenue, Avatar by James Cameron. That comparison to film makes Rockstar itself. But it is undoubtedly also true when compared to other entertainment products, such as those in the music industry.
GTA 5 is now a diamond for Rockstar. Launching a new product is always exciting. In the case of the Diamond Casino and Resort, however, it is hardly a gamble for the game manufacturer. They will leave that gambling to the players of Grand Theft Auto 5 from the 23 July.
Unfortunately, not all players were allowed to visit the casino: in more than 50 countries, the Diamond Casino was immediately blocked. Players from those countries ran into a blockade when they wanted to buy new chips. The fact that gambling is not allowed in countries such as China, North Korea and Afghanistan does not surprise us, but also in countries such as Luxembourg, Portugal and the Czech Republic it is not possible to play in the casino. The excluded countries have strict policies regarding online gambling. Because chips can be purchased with real money at the Diamond Resort, the same rules are now also applied to GTA.
The New Zealand Gaming Authority is investigating all forms of digital gambling, this new Grand Theft Auto casino will also be examined. The KSA has fought game producers before, when it came to the so-called "lootboxes": in-game "surprise packs" that you can only buy with Real Money. You do not know in advance what you are buying, which means that you are actually gambling. Are you lucky and score the right item? Then you will have an instant advantage over other players online, winning will be easier. Opening loot boxes can therefore be addictive for the (underage) players of these computer games. Rocket League and PUBG have announced that they will stop selling loot boxes to players from New Zealand and Australia. Does GTA's Diamond Casino Resort await the same fate? We think so. Should you like it online casino games so want to see with your own eyes: do not wait too long!
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22 July 2019
