Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto Online sees unseen player figures since the launch.
Recently, we wrote about how Grand Theft Auto V’s Grand Theft Auto Online got an update where you can spend real money (but not earn!) in a casino called Diamond Casino. Only one US Dollar per hour can be purchased, so it’s not a massive danger to gamble, but Rockstar and Take-Two have found another way to monetize.
GTA Online still pulled player figures unseen in the past nearly six years. Grand Theft Auto V is one of the best-selling games of all time (giving a big challenge for the sequel, in development for next-gen platforms), but then again, it is often discounted. SteamDB (https://steamdb.info/app/271590/graphs/) displays that on PC, Grand Theft Auto V has reached a significant spike in player numbers, and it’s possible that the same result is there on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, too.
So even though the update has been banned in over fifty countries, the success is there. Let’s see the countries banning the update and the casino: Afghanistan, Algeria, American Samoa, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Brunei, Cambodia (gambling is illegal for natives, but land-based gambling is legal for foreign visitors) Cayman Islands (land-based gambling is illegal, and online local casinos are banned, whereas foreign slots are not), China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cyprus (online sports betting is OK with a license), Czech Republic (majority of online gambling is illegal, except online lottery and online sports betting), Ecuador, Greece (some online gambling is illegal), Iceland (online casino gambling and online poker illegal – offline gambling is legal), Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg (illegal online other than sports betting and online lottery), Maldives, Mali (only legal for foreign visitors), Mauritania, Malta (gambling services need a license from the government, this is up to R* to apply for), Malaysia (seems to work for some and not for others…), Montenegro, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Poland (everything but online sports betting is illegal) Portugal (see Malta), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa (online gambling is illegal), South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand (everything but Horse Racing and the Government Lotto is banned), Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, and Venezuela.
This list can expand, though.
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