EDIT: The max cap is 50k for VIP members and the cooldown to buy more chips seems to be one GTA day, or 48 minutes in real time.
TL;DR: The update isn't as scummy as adding a virtual casino to GTA might seem on paper, but rockstar is subject to change anything at anytime so I wouldn't put it past them to fudge it up.
After spending about 2 hours with the update this morning it doesn't seem too terrible to me. Of course, since it is new and I don't know much about it I still have some concerns but the way it is set up as of now I'm not super concerned.
The teller lady who sells the chips only lets you get 20,000 at a time with an exchange rate of 1 dollar for 1 chip. This is not only chump change in online but I was locked out of buying anymore, even when I was low on chips. I'm not sure how long this restriction is but it was long enough that you definitely couldn't blow through an entire shark card in chips quickly. Which brings me to my next point.
If you wanted to, you could purchase a shark card that gives you GTA$ and in return exchange that for chips. But again, the combo of a long cool down timer and a $20,000 cap on chip purchases makes it unlikely (at least in my eyes) to see someone spends hundreds of real life dollars to gamble. Especially when the cheapest shark card is $3 USD for $100,000, in my testing that would probably take some time to completely burn off.
It also seems like you can retransfer chips into GTA$. At the teller was an option to trade in chips, however I didn't use it so I can't confirm if there is a cap nor the exchange rate but I'm assuming there is no cap and it is $1 for 1 chip (however I am not 100% sure about this).
Onto the actual gambling games, it's going to likely come down to taste or exploitative glitches on how much time people are really gonna spend on these games. From my time playing, I tried slots, 3 card poker, horse racing, and roulette. None of these were particularly engaging for me and I likely wouldn't sink a lot of time into any of them. Especially considering the fact that these were all low stakes (I couldn't play high stakes games because I'm not a VIP member) and there was a cap to how many chips I could have, I didn't want to lose all my chips yet I couldn't bet a lot in the first place. However, I understand this all comes down to subjectivity and I'm more jaded on the whole gambling for fun thing than other people, but the games aren't that great.
Besides the fact that I didn't like the games, they did at least include long tutorials and odds of winning for the games so it doesn't feel like people are going to go in there with no idea what their doing. They also locked down the big spin the wheel of prizes to one free spin a day and no option to buy spins.
The bottom line is, I don't think the update is too terrible. With all the restrictions on how much you can spend, showing the odds of winning and more, it feels like a fairly decent and non-scummy dlc . That doesn't mean shit couldn't change though, and I still have concerns for that.
Can VIP members spend more money on chips with a shorter cool down? Will they eventually let anybody directly buy chips at no cool down or cap? Will they let you purchase multiple wheels spins a day at an exoribitant price? Caps on transferring chips to GTA$? To answer these questions: I don't know. I wouldn't put it past rockstar to implement anything of these things listed considering their general scumminess. However, as of right now, I think there are bigger concerns with GTA Online, like long ass loading times or the free-to-play like grind to get any of the OP ass items.
And to reiterate, I only spent so much time with the update so I may be wrong about a few things and I wish I had concrete answers to questions such as how long the cooldown is to buy more chips. If I happened to misinform or if anybody knows more specifics about anything, it would be helpful to know. Hope this post was informative and sorry for the essay!
TL;DR: The update isn't as scummy as adding a virtual casino to GTA might seem on paper, but rockstar is subject to change anything at anytime so I wouldn't put it past them to fudge it up.
After spending about 2 hours with the update this morning it doesn't seem too terrible to me. Of course, since it is new and I don't know much about it I still have some concerns but the way it is set up as of now I'm not super concerned.
The teller lady who sells the chips only lets you get 20,000 at a time with an exchange rate of 1 dollar for 1 chip. This is not only chump change in online but I was locked out of buying anymore, even when I was low on chips. I'm not sure how long this restriction is but it was long enough that you definitely couldn't blow through an entire shark card in chips quickly. Which brings me to my next point.
If you wanted to, you could purchase a shark card that gives you GTA$ and in return exchange that for chips. But again, the combo of a long cool down timer and a $20,000 cap on chip purchases makes it unlikely (at least in my eyes) to see someone spends hundreds of real life dollars to gamble. Especially when the cheapest shark card is $3 USD for $100,000, in my testing that would probably take some time to completely burn off.
It also seems like you can retransfer chips into GTA$. At the teller was an option to trade in chips, however I didn't use it so I can't confirm if there is a cap nor the exchange rate but I'm assuming there is no cap and it is $1 for 1 chip (however I am not 100% sure about this).
Onto the actual gambling games, it's going to likely come down to taste or exploitative glitches on how much time people are really gonna spend on these games. From my time playing, I tried slots, 3 card poker, horse racing, and roulette. None of these were particularly engaging for me and I likely wouldn't sink a lot of time into any of them. Especially considering the fact that these were all low stakes (I couldn't play high stakes games because I'm not a VIP member) and there was a cap to how many chips I could have, I didn't want to lose all my chips yet I couldn't bet a lot in the first place. However, I understand this all comes down to subjectivity and I'm more jaded on the whole gambling for fun thing than other people, but the games aren't that great.
Besides the fact that I didn't like the games, they did at least include long tutorials and odds of winning for the games so it doesn't feel like people are going to go in there with no idea what their doing. They also locked down the big spin the wheel of prizes to one free spin a day and no option to buy spins.
The bottom line is, I don't think the update is too terrible. With all the restrictions on how much you can spend, showing the odds of winning and more, it feels like a fairly decent and non-scummy dlc . That doesn't mean shit couldn't change though, and I still have concerns for that.
Can VIP members spend more money on chips with a shorter cool down? Will they eventually let anybody directly buy chips at no cool down or cap? Will they let you purchase multiple wheels spins a day at an exoribitant price? Caps on transferring chips to GTA$? To answer these questions: I don't know. I wouldn't put it past rockstar to implement anything of these things listed considering their general scumminess. However, as of right now, I think there are bigger concerns with GTA Online, like long ass loading times or the free-to-play like grind to get any of the OP ass items.
And to reiterate, I only spent so much time with the update so I may be wrong about a few things and I wish I had concrete answers to questions such as how long the cooldown is to buy more chips. If I happened to misinform or if anybody knows more specifics about anything, it would be helpful to know. Hope this post was informative and sorry for the essay!
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