GTA Online's New Casino Won't Let You Gamble In Some Countries

We've written quite a bit about GTA Online's Diamond Casino & Resort these past few weeks. The casino is officially open for business now, but it appears you might be blocked from gambling in GTA Online depending on where you live in real life.

According to IGN, the Diamond Casino & Resort runs afoul of gambling laws "in over 50 countries," effectively rendering the casino portion of the content moot. Players who live in places like China, Iceland, and Poland are finding that they're not able to purchase chips to use at Diamond, and as such, are not able to gamble. That means they can't slap a bet down on a horse race, go all-in at a poker table, or otherwise use chips to play any of the other various games at the new casino.

IGN writes that some players even reached out to Rockstar's support team to gain some clarity on the issue. One user was told that, because of where they lived, they "[could not] enjoy the gambling related content in the new DLC."

We jokingly poked a little fun at the Diamond Casino & Resort last week, observing how the internet "works itself into a tizzy about loot boxes" while "Rockstar is over here recreating actual gambling." Shallow as it was, that was probably an indication that the gambling DLC would hit some snags in parts of the world where loot boxes, microtransactions, and gambling in general are more regulated. You can buy GTA Online casino chips using real money. If some countries believe that in-game card packs are gambling, why on earth would they let you spend money in a virtual casino?

It seems, for now, that Rockstar is actively blocking regions where it think the Diamond Casino & Resort content might face challenges. Perhaps Rockstar will open the casino fully to more countries in the future. Or perhaps Rockstar will simply decide that's too much of a headache.

We'll report back should anything change.