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.

So some people on this sub seem to think you need to do all the optional preps when doing the casino heist, but this is actually a HUGE waste of time when trying to grind. You would make much more money for your time if you just skipped these preps, ran the heist, and then started a new one. TheProfessional on youtube explains it in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1QcKrudZoc
For aggressive approach, you only need duggan shipments and boring machine. Don't bother with patrol routes, you don't need to sneak around anyone. If guards are within a certain range they will show on your map even without patrol routes. Keycards only if you can't hack, or if you think you might fail while exiting casino, but theres only 1 door that uses it so if you're experienced you don't need them. EDIT: you don't need boring machine to access sewers, it is always available. Not sure why rockstar made that mission.
For Big Con, as long as you have the 54 playing cards, YOU DON'T NEED ANY OPTIONAL PREPS. I can't believe there are people here that think you need duggan shipments for big con, when you literally don't shoot anybody while inside the casino. Whats the point of taking their armor and weapons if you don't shoot them, or get shot by them? You shouldn't be getting detected on gruppe sechs, and if you're not doing gruppe sechs then you're not being time efficient anyway.. You don't need patrol routes because when escaping there are only 2 guards that you need to take out, then 1 to avoid, and they are always in the same hallways. Also only 1 door to hack while escaping, don't need keycard.
SnS is the method that benefits the most from optionals. Keycards are actually useful because there are multiple doors, and duggan shipments can be handy as well so you can take out guards from afar with your gun. Patrol routes are good if you don't know the guards' usual spots, same with security intel for cameras, but they're not necessary once you learn where they are.
Also don't do power drills, you shouldn't have that much time if you choose the minimal amount of people and the appropriate hacker.
For example, for art you should always run as a group of 2, with a cheap hacker like Yohan (5%). You have enough time to clear the vault, and save money since the hacker takes a smaller cut.
For gold, you can run with 2 people if you hack fast/get lucky with the layout, but if running with 3 you can use a cheap hacker as well.
If you get cash on scope out, just call lester and cancel heist. It takes the longest to loot and is worth the least. The extra profit you get from art/gold is worth paying startup cost multiple times over.
This week also has diamonds. You need 3 people to clear the vault, and paige gives more than enough time. I haven't tested it with cheaper hackers but it might work.

In a previous article I looked into the practicality of building a Mage Tower for yourself. That was received fairly well, so I think I'll move onto my favorite class, the Artificer. Now, an Artificer doesn't necessarily need a tower as a base of operations, and given the somewhat more limited spell selection and 1/2 Caster nature, thought I'd focus more on the innate ability of an Artificer to be a small business owner by merits of Tool Proficiencies! Mundane and Magical Item are simple to make with all the Tool Proficiencies you are able to acquire at a relatively low level.
This guide could also be quite beneficial to Forge Clerics or any Wizard, Bard or Caster that knows Fabricate.
I recommend several resources to look up or familiarize yourself with before you take on this enterprising business opportunity.
1) Chapter 6 of the DMG features the Downtime Activity of Running a Business. It breaks down to 1d100+X, X being a number of downtime days that you spend running your business. If you can get above a 60 on the roll, congrats, your business makes a profit for that month.
2) Eberron: Rising from the Last War. You'll need this book if you want to play an Artificer.
3) Exploring Eberron presents two new Artificer Subclasses as well as a few new infusions I reference here, namely Healing Salve and Quiver of Energy.
4) Acquisition Incorporated is a great source for new rules to allow a business to be run while you continue to adventure, allowing a constant background stream of income to help fund future adventuring opportunities. You can use as many or as few options as you'd like, but the Hireling options to run the business in your absence are a nice touch.
5) If you don't want to use traditional Hirelings, but a more customizable NPC, you could use the Sidekick Options from the Essentials Kit and the upcoming Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. I will be recommending Sidekicks for each of the business models in the examples below.
6) Waterdeep: Dragon Heist gives basic operating costs for running a tavern and One-time and Recurring fees for Guild Memberships. Given the prominence of Guilds in Eberron and other settings, it is a good standard to use for other settings.
7) Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a fantastic breakdown of Artisan Tool uses and Skill Checks that will be immensely useful to Artificers or businessmen looking to practice a trade.
The following examples will be based on the following assumptions:
1) You will be running this business on your own.
2) You have options to get hirelings or other PC help should you want/need it.
3) You are level 6. This is the first level where a lot of this becomes feasible because you gain your Tool Expertise class feature and are now the best on the block at using Artisan Tools. You also gain a nice expansion to your Infusions that you can learn and I would think that knowing the Enhanced Weapon Infusion would count as having a schematic allowing you to enchant a basic +1 weapon.
4) We can use the upcoming Tasha's Rules for Character Creation on the Sidekicks so that you can swap out one Skill Proficiency for a Tool Proficiency. Wouldn't make sense to hire someone to run a weapon smithing shop who couldn't use Blacksmith Tools.
Feel free to submit your own business models using the following format:

• Business Focus
  
• Artificer Subclass or Subclasses best suited.
  
• Tool Proficiencies needed.
  
• Helpful Infusions. I include these here because I believe that having a relevant infusion should count as the required schematics necessary to create a magic item. I also think that they should definitely look different than the standard fare that traditional enchanters sell.
  
• Business location.
  
• Primary focus of business. What you will be selling or offering to customers.
  
• Common or Uncommon Magic Items to supplement mundane sales when you hit level 10 and can make them in 1/4 the normal time and 1/2 the price of anyone else.
  
• Sidekicks you could use in the business.
  
• Other Party members who could help you besides the Forge Cleric, Bards, Rogues or any Spellcaster that knows *Fabricate*. You can Assume that the above classes are inferred good business partners for any of the jobs listed below. This guide will be focusing on those with Tool Proficiencies from Class, as anyone could grab a Guild Member background and be helpful as well.
  

Businesses

Wandsmith/Arcane Focus Maker

• Artillerist. This subclass lends itself well to a Wandslinger and the level 5 class features give a lot of attention to the Wand.
  
• Armor of Tools, Woodcarver's Tools, Jeweler's Kit, Glassblower's Kit. Woodcarving for Wands, Rods and Staves. Jeweler's for Wands, and Crystals. Glassblower's for Orbs.
  
• Enhanced Arcane Focus, Replicate Magic Items (any common wands or staves, Wand of Magic Detection, Wand of Secrets), Homunculus Servant, Replicate Magic Item (Wand Sheath). The Enhanced Arcane Focus should lend you to easily make decent wands and even Infused Wands. Replicating Magic Items for schematics for easy to make Common Magic items to upsell to customers. Homunculus Servant for extra help around the shop.
  
• Cart, Wagon, Boat, Shop. You could have 2-3 wands on hand in a cart, a covered wagon with carving tools set up or even a section of a ship dedicated to making and selling your wares. If applicable, you could even buy a permanent location to sell your wares, this will be your best bet for glassblowing, as your toolkit still requires you to find a suitable heat source to form liquid glass. Work your way up to being your own Gilmore's Glorious Goods, Invulnerable Vagrant, or Fantasy Costco.
  
• At this location, Wands, Rods, Staves, Crystals and Orbs will be your meat and potatoes. Basic Spellcasting Foci for any aspiring Wizard, Sorcerer or Warlock. You could even branch out into Holy Symbols, and Druidic Foci if the demand is there. While a basic Spellcasting Focus only needs to be between 5gp and 20gp. These are easily made in a single day of downtime crafting. You could even customize more expensive version of them for Nobles or highly opinionated casters to distinguish yourself from other magic shops.
  
• Common and Uncommon Wands and Staves. Mostly Imbued Wands or Orbs of Resistance. Wands of Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Ice Knife, Catapult would all fall under these categories. Could even make a Common Wand that requires attunement, and grants the attuned the ability to cast a single Cantrip (always at Level 1) as a Novice Wandslinging item. Scrolls could be re-flavored as single use wands.
  
• For Sidekicks, an Expert would be great to help you churn out mundane items, while a Spellcaster would help you keep a steady stream of lower end Magic Items available.
  
• Eldritch Knights and Tome Warlocks would make great business partners. Eldritch Knights would probably push you to sell Rubies of War Mages also, bringing in a new area of clientele and the ability to advertise through Weaponsmiths for when they have some adventurers come through.
  

PainteSculptoGeneral Artisan

• Any Artificer
  
• Armor of Tools, Painter's Kits, Calligrapher's Kit, Glassblowers Kit, Woodcarver's Kit, Mason's Tools. These cover the gambit of common medium to work with.
  
• Homunculus Servant. Most other Infusions are combat based, but a Homunculus is a nice extra set of hands(tentacles or claws?) to help pass you the right tool and to clean off your brushes.
  
• Can work from Cart, Wagon, Boat or Shop. You might want a combo of Wagon and Shop, with a mobile studio to get different landscapes and to collect different material and a shop for a gallery from which to sell things.
  
• Paintings, Sculptures, Wood Carvings, Reliefs and finer doo-dads will be your main stock. From carvings of monsters that you've fought, self-portraits of people you've met, landscapes of other planes, or just finely made custom Dragonchess sets with pieces that look like real people. You could even specialize in ship figureheads or shop signs for taverns or other businesses. If you can find a way to make a permanent Magical Tinkering effect of the static visual image, that's a nice storefront display right there.
  
• Illusion enchanted paintings for a Harry Potter style feel would be good magical items, or even Dragonchess sets that can move themselves.
  
• Experts will probably get more mileage for the tool proficiencies than the Spellcaster unless your Enchanted portraits become a real hot commodity.
  
• Kensei Monks and Battlemaster Fighters each get proficiency in a set of Artisan's Tools as a Class Feature. Monks get Calligrapher's kit, but Battlemasters get to pick their choice, so could easily be Painter's or Woodcarver's.
  

Crossbow Manufacturer

• Battlesmith, Artillerist
  
• Armor of Tools, Woodcarver's Tools, Tinker's Tools, Smithing Tools, Carpenter's Tools. You will be mostly working with Wood and steel. Woodcarver's Tools lets you make 20 arrows as part of a Long Rest per Xanathar's.
  
• Repeating Shot, Quiver of Energy, Enhanced Weapon, Homunculus Servant. Enhanced Weapon for a reason to be able to make +1 crossbows. Quiver of Energy might be useful for some arrows that add a bit of elemental damage to a shot, even if only +1 fire or lightning.
  
• You can run a smaller shop out of a cart or wagon and be mostly custom orders, or you can have a fixed shot with dozens of different styles ready for sale and enchantment services on request.
  
• Hand, Light and Heavy crossbows as well as arrows and bolts will be your primary trade. You can also Silver arrows and bolts and filigree the crap out of some crossbows if people are interested in flaunting their status that way. Pretty straight forward with these mundane items.
  
• Walloping Ammunition, Unbreakable Arrows, Elemental Burst Arrows and Quivers of Ehlonna will be easy sources of magical flare in your shop.
  
• Experts will be your main shopkeepers and re-stockers. Warriors if you want someone to do demonstrations.
  
• Rangers, Arcane Archer Fighters, Kensei Monks will make excellent business partners. The Ranger especially brings a host of appropriate spells for later game enchanting. The Kensei will probably focus on more "traditional" Bows, which can help expand your clientele.
  

Potion Brewer

• Alchemist
  
• Brewer's Kit, Alchemist Supplies, Herbalism Kit, Poisoner's Kit. It is called out in Xanathar's Guide that an Herbalism Kit is required to make Healing Potions. So that's something you're definitely invest in. Also, in Xanathar's for .5lbs and 25gp of material, you can make one Alchemist Fire as part of a Long Rest with an Alchemist Supply Kit. That's not even counting what you can make during the day as Downtime. Stock up before you leave the city and you can make yourself one firebomb a night!
  
• Healing Salve and Homunculus Servant. Healing Salve is basically a 4 use touch range Healing Word you can make. This would be a great basis for Keoghtom's Ointment. I also feel like at this point I don't need to explain why Homunculus Servant keeps appearing on these lists.
  
• You could run this out of a cart or wagon, but i'd be worried about all those Alchemist Fire supplies rattling around. Same with a boat, unless you're just a Riverboat. A physical Shop would be best for what you need, although a cart/wagon for traveling with already made merchandise is a nice way to spread the brand name and to gather exotic or non-local supplies.
  
• Healing Potions! You are the local healer. You will also probably have on hand a good number of natural remedies for people who can't afford a constant stream of Healing Potions and instead use the Medicine Skill Proficiency to treat wounds. You can also make a single item of either Alchemist Fire, Acid, Antitoxin, perfume or soap as part of a Long Rest with an Alchemist's kit, so you can have a varied catalogue. makes sense to me that Sunrods (fantasy glow sticks) would be something you'd make with Alchemist's Supplies. You could even dip into Poison's, that wouldn't be advertised of course, but would include a bit of a premium on their sale for those in the need of such a thing.
  
• As you level up you can more easily make Potions of: Greater Healing, Fire Breath, Hill Giant Strength, Resistance and Water Breathing. You can also easily make an Alchemy Jug, which can make you day to day operations even cheaper as you can simply have the jug produce some of the more mundane liquids you may sell. The Decanter of Endless Water is also a must have item and too easy of a sale to anyone adventuring near or into a desert. Keoghtom's Ointment is also a nice Emergency Medicine that you could sell to a local Hospital or Militia.
  
• Expert's are your best bet at brewing basic potions for you and keeping the mundane supplies stocked. A Spellcaster would be able to expand your inventory with Climbing Potions, Beads of Nourishment, Beads of Refreshment, Candle's of the Deep, Perfume of Bewitching and Tankard's of Sobriety.
  
• Druids, Eldritch Knights, Monks and Rangers would be good partners as they can easily get Nature and Medicine proficiencies for a good number of the items that you make.
  

Tavern Owner

• Any Artificer, but strong lean to Alchemist due to class flavor.
  
• Brewer's Kit, Carpenter's Kit, Cook's Utensils, Alchemist Supplies, Herbalism Kit, Glassblowing Kit. The Brewer's Supplies should be obvious, but outside of the business, you can Purify1 gallon of Water over a Short Rest and 6 Gallons over a Long rest, a handy skill to have if you aren't near someplace with Fresh Water, like the open ocean. The Cook's Utensils are also a given with a Tavern, but outside of combat they allow a creature to regain 1 extra HP per Hit Dice they spend on a Short Rest. That may not sound like much, but it effectively makes each Hit Dice one higher on average (1d6+1 has the same average as 1d8). The Carpenter's Tools are so that you can fix all the furniture that will break during the inevitable bar fights. The Alchemist Supplies are actually for embalming creatures you encounter so you can have that Mindflayer Taxidermized as a display item in your bar! That's a feature I don't think any other local bar will have. Herbalism Kit is for working with hops, or branching into a bit of Potion Making if you want. Glassblowing is for you to make your own signature glassware that you can serve with the expensive drinks and offer as souvenirs.
  
• Homunculous Servant, Replicate Magic Item (Tankard of Sobriety). Tankard's of Sobriety seem like the perfect item for a bartender or bar owner. You can drink as much as you want but still stay sober. Might not be as much fun as regular drinking, but good for keeping your head about you and one hell of an advantage in a drinking contest.
  
• You could run this out of a Cart or Wagon as a kind of portable bar for just drinks. If you got a decent sized ship you could even expand it to a casino boat. However, a physical shop is the best choice here, specially if you plan to expand it to housing several rooms. Location is also key here, so make sure you spend some downtime doing some Investigation, Insight and History checks to learn all you can about potential locations you might set up.
  
• Beers, Wines, and Spirits of all kinds, with tasty food to boot! This is the stereotypical D&D Player business. There's an entire chapter of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist dedicated to setting up and running a tavern if you want inspiration. Feel free to include specials following your adventures of meat from creatures you've slain! Hydra-Burgers should be tasty.
  
• Mostly Wands of Prestidigitation and Decanter's of Endless Water for cleaning the bar and Alchemy Jugs for an easier way to produce cheap beer and wine with basically no overhead costs. Dust of Dryness might be nice to have on hand for cleaning up spills as well. Oh, and don't forget to keep a Wand of Magic Missiles behind the bar for those rowdy patrons.
  
• Spellcasters might make the best brewmasters of the sidekicks due to their increased Mental Stats. They can also help out with cleaning, and if they get to a point where they can Detect Poison and Disease, that would be a huge help come Health Inspection time. Experts will make good Brewers and can step up behind the bar to help out with their wide range of proficiencies. Warriors are good Bouncers and a way to take care of those pesky Dire Rats in the cellar.
  
• Way of the Drunken Fist Monks will either be a godsend or a curse for you as a business partner. Other Monks and Rangers would make a good partner as their naturally high Wisdom scores would help with Insight and Perception to keep an eye on patrons and employees. And no one is better in a bare knuckle brawl than a Monk, you could even put a fighting pit in your tavern if you want that kind of atmosphere, but I'd be sure to have a place to check weapons at the door so fights don't escalate too much outside of the fighting pit. Barbarians and Fighters have the CON to put down the drinks for Taste Testing and still being able to be a Bouncer. Beastmaster's can use their companion as a novelty server or even tavern mascot. And while I said I wouldn't include them on the list, I just have to say that any Bard would go here wonderfully.
  

Weaponsmith

• Battlesmith (It's in the name)
  
• Smithing Kit, Alchemist Supplies, Leather Working, Jeweler's Kit, Woodcarving Kit. The Smithing Kit and Woodcarving kit should be obvious as 95% of the weapons are made from metal or wood. The Leather Working Kit is for grips and wraps on the handles of weapons. Jeweler's Kit is for making fancy versions of weapons. Alchemist Supplies is for Silvering Weapons or using chemicals to stain the metal other colors.
  
• Homunculus Servant, Armor of Tools, Enhanced Weapon, Returning Weapon, Radiant Weapon, Replicate Magic Item (Moon-Touched Sword), Replicate Magic Item (Armblade). I think both the Radiant Weapon and Moon-Touched Sword Infusions would be good enough to count for the schematics to make Moon-Touched Swords for you. Enhanced Weapon for a basic +1 weapon.
  
• You need a forge for these, and that means that Carts and Wagons are only good for transporting completed merchandise to sell. The sheer weight needed for your forge makes a boat out of the question. Like the tavern, a physical location is the best bet for you.
  
• Anything that isn't a strictly ranged weapon is your stock and trade here. The most expensive mundane melee weapon is the Greatsword at 50gp. That means it will take you a full day (25gp) to make a single one. All other weapons can be made in a few hours. You'll also want to have some farming supplies and tools on hand in order to maximize your customer base. Hoes, pick axes, crowbars, buckets, barrels, Caltrops, Ball Bearings, metal religious symbols etc. Silvering Weapons and adding gold/silveelectrum/gemstone decorations to mundane items are a great way to offer wares to richer customers. Yes, Lord Grantham ir'Lupiloo has a fine rapier, but he doesn't have a rapier made of Bulette-scale Damascus steel, with a hydra skin wrapped pommel and his name engraved in gold embossed Draconic along the crossguard. That's how you make a name for yourself, because Lord Brendit ir'Flaglap is going to HAVE to have a nicer Longsword than that cur for next week's gala.
  
• Moon-Touched Blades, Weapons of Warning, +1 Weapons and a weapon with a single minor property from the table on page 143 in the DMG will be the easiest and fastest for you to replicate.
  
• The Expert and Warrior will be best for if you want mundane items being churned out of your forge. The Spellcaster would be a better hire if you want to focus on enchanted items. The difference in what you will be able to do will be based on your location. Rural areas will focus on mundane most likely, while cities will have more demand and client base for fancy mundane and enchanted.
  
• Fighters, Barbarians, Monks, Paladins and Blade Pact Warlocks would do great here as partners.
  

ClothieArmorer

• Armorer, Battlesmith
  
• Smithing Kit, Leatherworking, Weaver's Tools, Cobbler's Tools, Alchemist Supplies. SMithing and Leatherworking are straightforward. Weavers is for non-armor clothing if you want to instead open up a clothing boutique. Cobbler's tools for if you want to make shoes. Fun fact, with Cobbler's Tools you can spend a Long Rest to add in a 3" by 1" hidden compartment into a pair of shoes or boots.
  
• Homunculus Servant, Enhanced Armor, Reflecting Shield, Boots of the Winding Path, Armor of Absorption, Armor of Tools.
  
• You could do a clothing store, shoe repair and custom designing, make and sell leather armor, custom tailoring or a dry-cleaning business (Prestidigitation + Mending) out of a cart, wagon or boat, but for the same reasons as with a weaponsmith you need a physical location if you want to make metal armor. Make it work, people!
  
• Congratulations, you are now you party Rogue's favorite person and source of disguises. You'll have to decide the breadth and scope of just what kind of business you want to run first. Focus on just mundane clothing for commoners to nobles, or do a combination of common clothing and simple armors. Metal armors and shields will require a forge. If you are able to build yourself up, you could eventually do everything out of a large building with a little bit of everything like your own fantasy Macy's. One storefront for expensive dresses, gowns and suits. Next door is more common or work wear, and out back is the forge with protective armors, leathers and shields. This would be a nice way to ensure that all your armor pieces match, because nothing is worse than finding a great piece of new armor that just completely clashes with your personal aesthetic. This also to me just seems like a great way to play a Garrak like character. (If you don't know who that is, please see yourself over to Netflix or CBS All Access and watch all of Deep Space 9 as soon as possible.)
  
• Cloaks of Defense, Cloaks of Many Fashions, Cloaks of Billowing, Cloaks of Elvenkind, Cloaks of the Manta Ray, Sentinel Shields, Robes of Useful Items, Brooches of Shielding, Cast off Armor, Boots of Elvenkind, Gleaming Armor, Boots of the Winterlands, Winged Boots....there are so many thematic Common and Uncommon Magic Items for you to make here.
  
• Experts will be your go to for mundane sewing, forging and cobbling. Spellcasters if your enchanting business takes off and can run the Dry-cleaning aspect while you're gone.
  
• Rangers, Monks and Arcane Archers will do well here are they tend to favor DEX and WIS. Also, if you do end up going into a clothing business with a rogue and you don't name it "Cloak and Dagger" then I think you actually lose a Character Level.
  

Shipwright

• Any, but Battlesmiths and Armorers might do best as they would tend to have higher STR.
  
• Armor of Tools, Carpenter's Tools, Woodworking Tools, Smithing Tools, Navigation Tools. You're mostly going to be working with wood here, and a bit of metal also. Navigation Tools just seems like a good choice, unless you want the RP of being a master of building ships, and then being completely unable to use or navigate in them.
  
• Homunculus Servant, Replicate Magic Items (Cap of Water Breathing, Ring of Water Walking, Cloak of the Manta Ray). The Magic Items that you can replicate allow you to fully inspect or repair any ship while it is in the water.
  
• You're going to want a shop. Located next to a large body of water. And depending on the size of the ships you intend to build, it should also be connected to an ocean eventually. You could theoretically have this business from a boat, if you make a large enough ship that you could pull alongside other ships to repair them, but I think you're best off with a permanent location.
  
• As a Shipwright, you make ships! Boats, galleys, rowboats and everything in between. You'll want to start off with smaller boats first to build up your money until you can invest in making a large ship. According to the DMG, a Rowboat costs 50gp to make, a Keelboat costs 3,000gp a Sailing Ship or Longship costs 10,000gp and a Galley costs 30,000gp. Other than Rowboats, which you can make in a single day, these are going to be very long projects. From 120 days for a Keelboat to about 3.3 years for a Galley if you are working by yourself without any magical aid. Even if you do hire multiple sidekicks or just general hirelings, you aren't going to get paid until the entire job is done, but they will all need to be paid while they work on the ship. Instead of making brand new ships, you could also repair existing ones, and as an Artificer, you almost certainly have the Mending cantrip which can help you.
  
• Candle's of the Deep, Heward's Handy Spice Pouch, Orbs of Direction, Ropes of Mending, Alchemy Jugs, Caps of Water Breathing, Decanters of Endless (fresh)water, Eyes of the Eagle, Gloves of Swimming and Climbing and Wind Fans are all magic items that you could sell to shipowners and crews to help them in their travels. Ghosts of Saltmarsh also has a number of Ship Upgrades that you could offer.
  
• Experts are going to help you the most here as they can get the most amount of kit proficiencies to help across a variety of problems. Spellcasters can help if you decide for focus more on maritime magical goods.
  
• If you plan on building ships from scratch, then you are going to need every Forge Cleric and Fabricate Spell you can get your hands on. But be careful, if you are able to start churning out ships in a week for half the cost of the competition, then that is a LOT of people that you are putting out of business and there is sure to be repercussions. For a non-magical approach, just about every party has something that they can contribute to this project. Martial classes will DO WORK on cutting down lumber and getting that ship together. Partial Casters can help speed up certain aspects of building and augment others through buffs.
  

Updated for multiple spelling, grammar and formatting errors

Please Feel Free to Submit your own Business Ideas! I'll add them if they fit the stated format. Punny Shop names encouraged!

–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.

1. 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.
   
2. 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
   
3. 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.

1. 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.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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)
   
4. 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.
   
5. 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.
   
6. 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.
   
7. 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.
   
8. 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.
   
9. 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).
   
10. 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.
    
11. 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 :)

I have verified my game files multiple times (Steam installation), re-installed etc. The Scope out Casino Mission - the heist board states I'm missing one access point. I have taken countless photos of the access point in question (the roof terrace behind the bar). When taking the photo, the phone does not "auto-cycle" to Lester or anything. My only options are to save photo, or delete. When saving the photo, nothing further happens, it just saves to the R* service/cloud. However I can use this access point as an entry/exit during the actual heist. This does not allow me to check off the scope all access points progress.
​
Anyone else run into this, and maybe found a workaround?

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

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.

One Time Preps

Scope Out

• Vallet Security Guard
• Purple Keypad inside (dome)
• Camera Outside (box)
• Camera Vault Blueprints (in Mrs bakers office)

Access Points

Ground (3)

• Main Entrance (west)
• Waste Disposal (north)
• Staff lobby (east)

Roof Terrace (4)

• 2 doors each on the north and east

Roof (2)

• North Helipad
• South Helipad

Underground (2)

• Security tunnel (under dirt track)
• Sewer

Crew

• Hacker - Paige (ALWAYS, unless you don't have, get next best quality)
• Driver - Karim (Sentinel Classic)
• Gunners - Karl Abolaji (Cheapest)

Approaches

The Big Con (Easy/Medium)

• Enter Security Tunnel (Gruppe Sechs disguises)
• Exit Staff Lobby (HIGH ROLLER DISGUISE)

"Optional" Setups

• High Roller Disguise (Firefighter if lazy) FUCK NOOSE

Actually Optional

• Security Key Cards
• Patrol Routes
• Dugan Shipments
• Security Intel

Aggressive (Easy/Medium)

• Enter Sewer
• Exit Staff Lobby

"Optional" Setups

• Dugan Shipments
• Reinforced Armor

Actually Optional

• Security Key Cards

Silent and Sneaky (HARD) FUCK THIS SHIT

• Enter South Helipad
• Exit Staff Lobby

"Optional" Setups

• Security Key Cards
• Patrol Routes
• Security Intel

Actually Optional

• EMP
• Dugan Shipments

Tips and Tricks

Vault Contents

If you get cash and call Lester to cancel heist in the casino sometimes the game glitches and the setup board gives you an alternative when you restart. Link

Using Your Own Guns

Step 1: Go to maze bank foreclosures
Step 2: Go to your MC clubhouse on maze bank foreclosures
Step 3: Change the color of your MC name
Step 4: Buy (Free) and leave
Step 5: Profit
I hope this helps some of you in completing the heist. Apologies for formatting of post. English is not my first language. Also, this is literally straight out of my notepad, so feel free to ask me detailed questions in the comments. Good luck!
Edit: Moved Dugan Shipments for S&S
Edit 2: Added example link for vault contents
Additional Notes: Security Intel only needs to be completed once

I am hosting the casino heist for the first time and did most the setups on my own, I selected big con as I enjoyed that the most but couldn't select the grouppe sechs entry disguise, decided to do setups for maintenance, then realised I didnt scope out the garage entrance and therefore couldn't select that approach.
Is it possible for me to scope out the access point and do the grouppe sechs setups even tho I have completed the maintenance setups, or do I have to restart the whole heist?

The Blood Money Dlc concept is a concept based upon our character being recruited into a small mercenary organization and eventually being able to create our own, this concept will include multiple new features listed below.

• new story
• new weapons/attachments
• new vehicles
• new emotes
• new clothing
• new buyable properties
• new inventory item
• new style

Introduction
As los Santos slowly becomes more dangerous with highly organized criminal efforts ranging from drug rings to mass heisters the government of los santos has decided to use a new method to try and control the rising issue, to combat the issue they decided to hire a independent mercenary group to hunt down and kill multiple criminal rings to help stabilize thier city
Characters intro
For our characters this new motion wasn't brought to our attention untill after we started reading about deaths of criminals on the newspaper, it then became a suddenly real reality when we got a phone call from a unknown number the call was short but got the point across " we know what you've done but we're willing to swipe the slate clean if interested go to foreclosure" we find out more about the story after we get to a new mercenary HQ
Locations
There are multiple mercenary HQs listed on foreclosure to choose from each have there own advantages and disadvantages such as location and surroundings
1) Sandy recycling center- located near the back of the scrap yard among all the debris and wreaks a small shack garage was made to cover a new merc base ( map change shack made into garage )
2) grapeseed abandoned house- located across from the grapeseed 24/7 store ( map change needs garage door already has main door)
3) paleto bay construction house- located on the beach front road there is a house and garage under construction ( map change remove construction)
4) la Mesa warehouse- located near the fridgit cold storage on the north side there is a small warehouse with double doors ( map change need boxes removed )
5) cypress flats- located on chum st a old semi warehouse ( map changes none )
6) LSIA - located behind big house storage road follows behind ( map change need garage door and door )
7) la puerta- located at helicopter landing off shank st at Higgins helitour ( map change none)
8) Pacific bluffs- located inside crastenburg parking garage ( map change needs door)
Mercenary HQ tour
The Mercenary HQ comes with multiple upgrades to choose from as well as some new rooms that come upon purchase
Command center - the main center of life within your HQ where you will be able to access the databases on different crime rings as well as organize and launch raids ( more in story) the command center will have a few different color options to change it to your liking
Living quarters- the living quarters are a purchasable upgrade allowing you to choose the mercenary HQ as a spawn point, the living quarters will have a few decorations you can buy such as weapons, tools paintings you can have along with a color scheme
Garages - The mercenary comes with two garages automatically the first being a small six car garage on the main level, the second is a arsenal garage that can store the new drone ( more later) along with a few smaller and one large weaponized vehicle in addition you can purchase two extra 12 car garages on lower levels of the HQ
Armory - The armory is a purchasable upgrade that adds a new room to your HQ bringing multiple features, within the room itself will be a Mk2 upgrade table as well as a gun locker also included in the room is a new weapon expert who has started up shop within the armory selling new weapons and attachments ( more later)
Shooting range - The shooting range is a small upgrade located in the back of the HQ that adds a small shooting range to practice shooting and to help upgrade your stats
Gym- upon purchase of the gym you will receive a treadmill, and other gym equipment unlocking small mini games within the gym, the gym also bring a new feature making your character muscular the more minigames you play the more muscle you get over time but if you end up getting too jacked there is a hot tub you can rest in to help decrease your muscle mass
Story Introduction
The story begins when we first arrive at our new HQ we are greeted at the front door by a slightly muscular man he reaches out and shakes your hand Introducing himself as Jax before opening the door and leading us down a flight of stairs, once at the bottom he gives us a tour of a in construction HQ as he walks through he explains which room would be constructed into what as long as we have the cash to fund it, he then turns and swings open a pair of double doors revealing a team of people setting up monitors and and computers, jax then turns around saying welcome to the command center but before we start were gonna need you to go collect our files from the old base this then triggered a set up mission to retrieve mule outside different buildings depending which base you choose.
Post set up intro
Upon delivering the documents back to the HQ jax will be waiting for you in the garage with a small team of unloaders, once you exit he puts his hand on your shoulder and lead you down a corridor on the way jax is explaining the first operation while leading you towards the command center along the way your character gets distracted by a muffled scream coming from a slightly ajared door when your character peeks in there is a vagos member strapped to the chair immediately after jax closes the door and finishes leading us to the command center, once there we see that the center board is fully sorted out displaying the vago crime family, once seated jax starts breaking down all the information they currently have about the vagos cocaine distribution ring and how they have been tasked with bringing down multiple crime rings and they were to start with the vagos.
Crime ring info
There are multiple crime rings that you can choose ranging from small rings to large the larger rings have a larger payout but have a longer cool down once they are completed to prevent from only spamming one ring
The rings are as stated
The vagos crime family ( cocaine distribution) The ballas ( lsd distribution) The families/ grove street ( weed distribution) The Chinese ( counterfeit ring ) The Texans ( illegal arms ring ) The O'Neil brothers ( meth distribution) Russian crime family ( prostitution ring) The lost MC ( export ring )
Each crime ring will have it's only process for taking them down from raids to set ups and each and every one will give you some small choices to make as to how you would like to go after them similar to the casino heist for example say you are raiding the the vagos to seize informants you could have three different options you could go loud which is a swat like entry through the front door, or you could break in silently in the dead of night where a slip up could cause it to go loud or you could set them up which lures them away from thier territory causing them to be more exposed but causes there to be more enemies to fight
Operation process
Each operation will have it's own process for taking down the criminal rings but they all are based on the same principle, destabilizing thier hierarchy to prevent reconstruction of the rings this can be achieved by doing set ups, the set ups differ upon the crime rings ranging from interrogating low level members, investigating crime scenes, infiltrating deals, and stealing rival information, as you proceed to gather information you start to unlock the next tier in the hierarchy once you unlock the next tier you will unlock a mission at the command center, the missions will differ on the level of hierarchy as well as the ring some will be destruction of distribution, sabotaging shipments, leaking information, assassinations of hierarchy among many others
Top dog hit
After dismantling the hierarchy you will eventually be able to take out the kingpin of the operation, each kingpin will have thier own unique final mission based upon the ring they are managing some will require you to kill them straight out while others may require to set up the king pin to post the blame on another ring to avoid alarming the other rings.
Completion of rings
Upon completion of different crime rings you will receive different rewards along with rewards for first time completion like extra money, each crime ring has a unique first time completion regarding the type of ring it is for example upon completion of the vagos ring you will receive a cash reward a first time cash reward along with a free resupply for the according ring expect for the export ring it will reward you with a collection for import/export, the first time bonuses other then money are rewarded for hosting the end job but if you are a tag along you will still get the first time money reward. After the completion of the ring you will be able to restart it again to get more cash however each ring will have a cool down period between being able to start it again depending on the payout price for taking down the ring to promote doing other rings.
Armory
The armory in the HQ is special with its purchase you unlock a new weapon expert named maverick he will be the main seller of all new weapon attachments and weapon based accessories for your character
New weapons
Taser - the long await taser comes as a new weapon available to buy in both ammunition and the armory used to subdue both targets for interrogation as well as players
M16- a newly imported weapon featured within the army by maverick the M16 is a three bullet burst assault rifle compatible with most attachments
M1 grand- shortly after your first frontation with maverick you will receive a email discussing about a old rifle that he would be able to put together if we find all the pieces within this message it reveal our first location upon collecting the first peice we will get clues for the others
Zipties- a new "weapon" that will allow you to restrain a npc to help for transport within mission but if you can combine both the taser and zipties together you can restrain a players hands behind their back denying them access to their weapon wheel however they can still run and jump and enter vehicles however they cant steer, the restrained player can escape by button mashing.
Grapple - the grapple is a new specialty weapon designed to help sniper reach higher ground, the grapple will be store in the heavy weapon category, while aiming the weapon the scope will have ethier a X or a O the X means that the grapple is unable to make a rapple point if it is a O it will create the rapple point however once you reach the top or you die the rapple disappears
Weapon attachments
When the mercenaries arrived in los Santos so did their contacts bringing in new attachments and features for a variety of weapons
Fast mags- a new purchasable upgrade that increases your reload time as well as changes the style of your magazine ( available for purchase on assault rifles)
Bipod - a new upgrade that helps with stability and movement speed while using your sniper ( available for all sniper rifles * marksmen not included*
Underbarrel gernande launcher - the mercenary special the underbarrel gernande launcher is available for purchase on your ar making it into a effective weapon against both ground and vehicle targets ( available on all assault rifles * will replace the throw option while aiming as well as have to purchase ammo* as well as replaced grips )
Laser - a cosmetic upgrade that allows you to attachment a laser onto your side rail in replacement of your flashlight * activates by flashlight button*
Foregrip - a improved straight underbarrel grip that slightly improved weapon accuracy and handling
Shotgun chokes - a shotgun modifications that tightens the spread radius of the shell ( may be restricted depending on selected shell)
Inventory item/drone
When the mercenaries came to los santos from wherever they came from they brought a new scouting toy with then the suav
After launch the suav will have a ability that can be used while flying
Stock- while the drone is stock you can use it to fly around to provide information to your teammate but it will not have any special effects
Support- after marking targets they will proceed to be marked by a red outline 20 seconds after marker has left drone ( only visable to marker)
Radar- after use enemies that have been marked will show up on radar for 20 seconds or up to a minute depending if opponent is ghost or off radar
When the suav is crashed it will have a effect on the target it crashes into depending on the different tips it has been equipped with
Crash upgrades
Kinetic - causes shock wave upon impact
Emp- disabled vehicle upon impact
Gas - release a cloud of toxic gas upon impact
Range upgrade
One of the upgrades for the drone is a range extender to help provide for those longer scouting missions
The drone is purchasable for warstock and is automatically stored in the mercenary HQ
Vehicles
Military
Aircrafts
AC-130 - Gunship F-117A Nighthawk Su-47 Berkut Embraer KC-390 HH-60G Pave Hawk YF-23 Black widow II
Utility
4 door HVY barracks/ civ variant Military Humvee ( can be upgraded to weaponized Gaz Tigr Ural 63095 Typhoon MRAP Cougar 4x4
Heavy artillery
M1A2C Abrams GTK Boxer Bundeswehr M1 AGDS Anti-Air
Everyday vehicles 1965 jeep gladiator j200 2019 Dodge Ram 3500 1980 Ford F-350 Dually ( comes with both bed and flatbed options) 1990 Jeep Wrangler 1990 Land Rover Range Rover 2020 Chevy Silverado Dually 1995 Toyota Mega Cruiser 2020 Dodge Durango Ice Ram Honda S2000 Heist buffalo - a four door buffalo with a reinforced fromr ram bar and a winch on the rear
Clothing
A new shipment of clothes have arrived in the clothing stores scattered across san Andreas these new clothes will help you look the part of a mercenary along with help you during those tight infiltrations
Shirts
Ripped shirts- a new category of shirts ranging from long sleeved shirts that all have something in common they are all worn and have tears in them showing that they have been used and are aging
Muscle shirts- different color muscles shirts that come with different designs to help show off the gains you have gotten from your time at the gym
Gang shirts - a new category with all crime ring attire available for purchase
Vests
Ammo vest- a utility vest focused on carrying more ammo with multiple large pouches on the bottom
Demolition vest- a vest decorated with multiple grenades as well as a brick of c4 and detonating cord hanging off the side
Sniper vest- a vest consisting of a large magazine pouch and 3 smaller pistol size magazine pouches , as well as grappling rope to help with those adventures sniping trips the vest will also have a flare attached to it
Shotgunner vest - a vest spewed with multiple shotgun slugs across it
Pants
Plated jeans- invented originally by a mercenary caught in the field without armor these Jean's have metal tied around them to help create a protective layer
Ripped jeans- sadly our pants can only last so long and these have already reached their time to be replaced these Jean's have tears among them and are worn on the bottom
Boots
Combat boots- a new string of boots coming in multiple different colors mostly consisting of standard issue military boots
Accessories
Gun slings - a new category within the accessories category called the gun sling the gun sling will have every default gun as a option to buy slung across your back
Police belt- a small gun belt that consists of a holstered glock and a few pouches
Mercenary belt - a dual pistol holster belt with pouches along the back
Biker belt - a belt that consists of a knife holster and a holstered pistol on the back
Style
When the mercenaries arrived in Los santos so did their styles
Tattoos- the tattoo stores started offering new patriotic tattoos featuring flag tattoos as well as this consisting on eagles guns and bullets
Scars - the ability to get scars for your character will available in a new section of the hairdresser's, you will be able to get scars for face, chest, legs, back and arms these will only be for cosmetics
Hairstyle and beards - the hairstylers are now offering new form of hairstyles ranging from wastelander( over grown/ unkept), pony tails, shaved, and a buzz cut you will also be able to get different beards ranging from a trimmed beard to have a large homeless beard for those long unkept missions
Emotes
Gernade toss - pulls out grenade and tosses it between hands
Gun twirl - pulls out handgun and twirl it in hand
Surrender - pull out small white flag and waves it
Arrest me - holds out hands together to be cuffed
Lean - available when near a car allowing you to lean against it
This concludes the Blood money Dlc concept any suggestions for the next concept is greatly appreciated.