Why Plinko payouts vary between game providers

SmartSoft, BGaming and Betsoft all sell essentially the same proposition: drop a ball, watch it rattle through a grid, and hope it lands in a multiplier. But a look at their own product pages shows just how differently they think about volatility, maximum win caps and player control.

BGaming: ultra-high RTP and a “configure everything” approach

BGaming’s original Plinko, launched in 2019, is unusually generous by online casino standards. On its Players Hub, the studio lists the game with a return to player (RTP) of 99% and a maximum multiplier of x1,000, alongside adjustable risk levels (low, normal, high) and a choice of 8 to 16 lines on the board.

The same page leans heavily on transparency: BGaming highlights “provably fair” technology that lets players verify outcomes, and promotes live RTP and top-win stats in its Players Hub.

That philosophy is pushed to an extreme in Plinko 2, released in January 2025. In the Players Hub listing, BGaming again posts an RTP of 99%, but this time the maximum multiplier jumps to x10,000, with a listed maximum win of €250,000. The volatility here is marked as low, while the feature list includes movable x2 multipliers, vortex respins, and the option to drop up to 100 balls at once.

Seasonal and themed spin-offs use the same maths as a selling point. Plinko 2 Halloween is billed on BGaming’s website as offering “wins up to x10,000 of your bet”, with the detailed spec table again showing 99% RTP and a max multiplier of x10,000. Football Plinko, released in June 2025, keeps the RTP at 99% and the top multiplier at x10,000, but tags volatility as low and wraps the game in football branding with jerseys, respin features, and multiplier “stretches” across the field.

Betsoft: cinematic arcade games with moderated RTP and stylised risk

Betsoft comes at Plinko from a different angle. On its corporate site, the company pitches itself as a “market leader” in premium, cinematic iGaming with a focus on “product innovation” and player engagement. Its Plinko catalogue reads less like a single game iterated over time and more like a mini-portfolio of arcade experiments.

Plinko Rush, which Betsoft classifies under its arcade category, is given an RTP of 96.00%, variable volatility marked “Low/High”, and 8–16 “paylines” (effectively, rows) on the official game page. The top payout here is sizeable but notably lower than BGaming’s 10,000x ceiling, and the RTP sits closer to mainstream slot norms.

Later in 2024, Betsoft followed with Olympus Plinko, presented as an “arcade-style game” inspired by Greek mythology. In its official game-release article, Betsoft emphasises player-controlled customisation: users can choose to drop between one and 100 balls and adjust volatility to “unlock greater rewards”. Gates placed across the board can boost wins with multipliers of up to x6, and special SPIN slots at the bottom trigger a prize wheel offering extra multipliers, cash awards and jackpot tiers. The same article names a potential max win of 4,593x the bet.

By 2025, Betsoft had added Plinko Cup, a football-themed title that again leans into presentation.

SmartSoft’s Plinko X

When it comes to SmartSoft’s Plinko X, casino-facing aggregator sites give the game an RTP of 98.5%, medium volatility, and a maximum multiplier of x2,000.

For anyone looking to play Plinko online with real money, the safest assumption is that “Plinko” is a format, not a single game. The differences lie not in the falling ball or the geometry of the board, but in the figures tucked into the spec sheets: the RTP, the volatility range, the behaviour of bonus features and the size of the top prize. Those numbers, more than the theme or the artwork, are what ultimately separate one developer’s vision of Plinko from another’s.