Investigation: Winna Plinko RTP ModificationWinna
Investigation

Plinko · RTP modification

RTP mismatch foundRTP mismatch

Independent investigation
Historical review · 2025–2026

GAME LOGIC ≠ CRYPTOGRAPHIC PROOF

The verifier passed.
The odds had changed.

Winna’s Plinko remained reproducible from its seeds while modified probability tables reduced RTP from ~99% to ~98%.

PLINKO
Plinko · 27 configurations

Publicly stated RTP

~99%

27 configurations

3 modes · 8–16 pins

Publicly stated RTP

~99%

3 modes · 8–16 pins

~98%Extracted tables
≈1 pt lowervs publicly stated RTP

Modified probabilities in the affected period

Incident report · March 2026

Findings relate to the affected period and extracted game logic.

00The report in 30 seconds

01 / THE RTP CHANGERTP mismatch

The odds changed.
The payouts did not.

From 17 December 2025 to 10 March 2026, hardcoded probability tables reduced Plinko RTP from ~99% to ~98%.

02 / THE VERIFICATION GAPReplay valid

The bets still replayed.
The verifier still passed.

Bets remained reproducible from their seeds. The changed odds were in the layer mapping random numbers to outcomes.

Winna acknowledged the error and offered refunds. The 14 March paytable re-check found per-pin logic restored; this was not a full audit.

On March 10, 2026, Winna.com issued an incident report acknowledging that its Plinko game had operated under modified probability tables for nearly three months. The report described the change as a configuration error and offered refunds to affected players. Winna's RTP for the affected period dropped from the publicly stated ~99% to approximately 98%.

01Baseline: Winna Plinko prior to December 17, 2025

ProvablyFair.org first reviewed Winna's Plinko implementation in November 2025 as part of routine technical research into provably fair casino games. At that time, the algorithm operated as a per-pin coin-flip simulation: for each pin in the board, the HMAC-SHA256 RNG produced a single bit that determined whether the ball moved left or right. The final landing position determined the multiplier. This is the standard binomial-distribution approach to a Plinko-style game and is the construction that produces the well-known peaked distribution toward the centre.

16 PINS · INDEPENDENT 50/50 DECISIONS

The distribution follows from the mechanics.

~99%Expected and advertised RTP
67.5MSimulated rounds
27Configurations tested

Left edge

Centre

Right edge

Left edge

Centre

Right edge

ONE COIN FLIP AT EACH PIN

50 / 50

Sixteen independent decisions produce the familiar centre-weighted distribution.

1 in 32,768Either 1000× edge · 16-pin High Risk

~19.6% at the centre

The probabilities follow from the mechanics; they are not configurable bucket weights.

02What changed in the live code

On December 17, 2025, Winna launched a release titled "Originals 2.0", described in its marketing as a rebuild of its in-house games and including a new Plinko mode called Extreme. After this release, the game logic for Plinko was different.

The post-update algorithm no longer simulated the path through the pins. Instead, the code generated a single random float and mapped that float against a hardcoded probability table to select a bucket directly:

BEFORE 17 DECEMBER

Per-pin coin flips

  1. 01HMAC-SHA256 RNG
  2. 02One decision per pin
  3. 03Count left / right outcomes
  4. 04Bucket follows binomial math

AFTER ORIGINALS 2.0

Direct bucket selection

  1. 01HMAC-SHA256 RNG
  2. 02One random float
  3. 03Hardcoded probability table
  4. 04Table selects the bucket

03The shape of the modification

Across all three difficulty modes and all pin counts, the pattern in the extracted tables was consistent. The probability of landing in the highest-paying buckets was reduced. The removed probability was redistributed into a small number of low-value middle buckets. The remaining buckets continued to match fair binomial probability to 10 or more decimal places.

SAME DISPLAYED MULTIPLIERS · LOWER LANDING PROBABILITIES

The high-paying buckets became harder to hit.

FAIR · EITHER 1000× EDGE1 in 32,768
EXTRACTED TABLE · EITHER EDGE1 in ~48,188

Representative 16-pin buckets · probability relative to fair odds

High · 1000×

Fair
Modified
32% lower

Medium · 110×

Fair
Modified
35% lower

Medium · 41×

Fair
Modified
88% lower

Low · 9×

Fair
Modified
96% lower

Low · 2×

Fair
Modified
99.5% lower

Each fair probability is normalized to 100%. Percentage reductions are approximate.

The on-screen multipliers shown to players did not change. The probability of landing in each bucket did. All three modes, across all pin counts, converged to approximately 98.00% RTP rather than the ~99% the public materials described.

All 27 configurations · expected vs extracted RTP

Expected and extracted RTP for all 27 configurations
PinsLow · fair → tableMedium · fair → tableHigh · fair → table
898.98% → 98.00%98.91% → 98.00%99.06% → 98.00%
998.98% → 98.00%99.14% → 98.00%99.06% → 98.00%
1099.00% → 98.00%98.91% → 98.00%99.06% → 98.00%
1199.00% → 98.00%99.02% → 98.00%99.16% → 98.00%
1298.98% → 98.00%98.99% → 98.00%99.12% → 98.00%
1399.00% → 98.00%98.99% → 98.00%99.09% → 98.00%
1499.00% → 98.00%98.99% → 98.00%98.98% → 98.00%
1599.00% → 98.00%99.00% → 98.00%99.03% → 98.00%
1699.00% → 98.00%98.99% → 98.00%98.98% → 98.00%

RTP is calculated from the extracted probability and payout tables; it is not the observed return of the 190-bet sample.

04Winna’s incident report

On March 10, 2026, Winna issued an incident report to affected accounts. The relevant section read:

"During the recent update introducing Extreme Mode, these probability tables were updated. The intention was to configure Extreme Mode with a 98% RTP, while keeping the existing Normal modes at 99% RTP. However, due to a configuration error, the 98% RTP probabilities were applied to all modes rather than only Extreme Mode."

— Winna incident report, March 10, 2026

The report further stated that affected players would be refunded the difference between their actual outcomes and what they would have received under the intended 99% configuration, and that Winna had added automated RTP simulation tests to its deployment process to prevent recurrence. Players were directed to live chat support to claim refunds.

05Why this case is relevant to provably fair as a category

The technical detail that matters most here is not the size of the RTP reduction. It is that the cryptographic verification layer remained intact throughout the affected period.

TWO DIFFERENT QUESTIONS

A valid replay did not validate the published odds.

Cryptographic layer

REPRODUCIBLE

Server seed committed before bets

Nonce increments each bet

HMAC-SHA256 result reproduces

Outcome mapping

CHANGED

Verified float enters a probability table

Table determines the landing bucket

Modified odds differ from published mechanics

The change was in the layer above the cryptography: the probability table that converted the verified random float into a bucket and a multiplier. That layer was not part of what Winna's verifier checked, and not part of what most casino-operated provably fair verifiers check. This is the structural condition we have described elsewhere as partial provable fairness: the cryptographic primitives are correct, but the game logic sitting on top of them is not independently verified against the casino's public specification.

FEBRUARY 2026 · VERIFIED LIVE-BET DATA

190 / 190100%

Match the extracted table-based algorithm

0190 bets
156 / 19082.1%

Land in a different bucket under per-pin math

0190 bets

Different bucket does not necessarily mean a different payout. This sample checks algorithm conformance; it is not an RTP estimate.

06For affected players

If you played Winna Plinko between December 17, 2025 and March 10, 2026, ProvablyFair.org has published an independent verification tool that allows you to check your bets against fair binomial probabilities. The tool accepts your client seed, your unhashed server seed (available after seed rotation), and a nonce range. It reports which of your bets would have produced different outcomes under fair binomial math compared to the extracted probability tables.

AFFECTED PLAYERS · 17 DEC 2025 – 10 MAR 2026

Check your Winna Plinko bets

Enter your client seed, unhashed server seed, and nonce range to see which bets were affected by the modified probability tables.

  1. 01Client seed
  2. 02Unhashed server seed · after seed rotation
  3. 03Nonce range
Winna Plinko verification tool showing the seed and nonce inputsOpen verification tool

Winna's incident report directed affected players to its live chat support to claim refunds under the intended 99% RTP configuration. The ProvablyFair.org tool is an independent reference that may be useful in those conversations or for players who want to confirm independently how their bets resolved under each set of probabilities.

07Current status

On March 14, 2026, the Plinko game logic was re-extracted from Winna's live frontend. The Low, Medium, and High modes had reverted to the per-pin coin-flip simulation used prior to December 17, 2025, and the bucket probabilities once again matched fair binomial math, with RTP across all configurations back in line with the ~99% the public materials describe. This reflects what a re-extraction of the live code shows; it is not a full audit of the current game.

CONCLUSION & SCOPE

A valid replay is only part of the proof.

The general point this case illustrates is one that applies across the category. Cryptographic verification of randomness is a necessary component of a provably fair game. It is not, on its own, sufficient.

A game can have a correctly functioning commit-reveal layer, a correctly functioning RNG, and a correctly functioning verifier — and still produce outcomes that do not match its published mechanics, because the layer that translates random numbers into game outcomes is independent of all of the above.

Audits that cover only the cryptographic surface will return valid results in those conditions, exactly as Winna's verifier did. End-to-end audits that include live-game-versus-specification conformance are what close that gap.

REPRODUCIBILITY · OPEN EVIDENCE

Full technical record

Extracted code, bucket-level probability comparisons across all 27 configurations, verified bet data, and the Wayback Machine archive reference.

View the analysis on GitHub