Are you ready NBA fans? Your sports betting arena is about to get a whole lot more interesting – especially if you love playing NBA 2K19 or wondering about “what if” team match ups. 

In the realm between where real life and fantasy blur, where software is now able to so closely mimic real life (check the latest Disney release of the Lion King if you need a clue), game developers have come up with a new concept to tantalize basketball fans.

It’s called the NBA Last 90

Revolutionary game makers, Highlight Games, are behind this new sports betting soon-to-be hit. Highlight label themselves as ‘creators of unique, innovative sports games made using exclusive real video footage.’

The NBA Last 90 is similar to a real-world betting scenario, where bets are taken on a game’s result up until the last 90 seconds of the game. And as we all know, a lot can happen in the last 90 seconds on the court!

Check out how it all works

The last 90 seconds of the simulated game itself is pieced together from archival footage of actual NBA match-ups, as you can witness in the demo released recently by Highlight Games. 

The demo reveals the Cleveland Cavaliers doing it out against the Golden State Warriors, a tied game at 83 apiece, at the 90 seconds to go mark. 

Bets available beforehand include:

  • Winner of the overall game
  • Whether both teams will score from their first possession of the last 90 seconds
  • Combined total points in the last 90
  • Total number of 3 pointers scored in the last 90

Once the game starts, footage is pulled randomly from the archives of the teams playing each other in recent seasons, leading to a different final 90 every time. Each play is picked by using a random number generator that selects it from the vast storage of archives.

The game itself will be available for play around the clock online, launching in Europe first then for the 2019-2020 NBA season in the United States.

As Scott Kaufman-Ross, Head of Fantasy & Gaming, NBA says “With NBA Last 90, Highlight Games has created a new spin on virtual sports basketball and delivered an authentic gaming experience utilizing real NBA content.”

In short, it’s a whole new way to both experience the NBA, plus has some fun with some fantasy betting.

Will it really work and be as exciting as it sounds?

Well, the excitement factor all depends on you, doesn’t it? If you prefer casino over sports betting you should look at the amazing bonuses US online casinos are currently offering. But if sports betting is your jam already and you’re a big NBA fan then you’ll probably get into the swing of things quickly.

As for the if it will really work part, the concept has already been tried and tested in the European market with the game developers’ release of Soccerbet. Soccerbet was launched in 2017 and “combines six ten-second clips from an individual fixture across a number of seasons.” The game is available in both single match ups as well as league-style games for diversity.

Soccerbet is live with operators Eurobet, Lottomatica and Sisal, and has consistently been named the top performing virtual sports product for Eurobet since launch with this leading Italian provider. 

A proven and tried product, with the heavyweight power of that sweet NBA pull behind it? You can bet this fantasy game will be a success.

Oh, and guess what else? Highlight Games also have an Ice Hockey game on the way, too. Watch this space.

The future of online sports betting

While it’s always exciting placing bets on a live game (now that it’s legal in the US of course!), new fantasy concepts such as the NBA Last 90 mean that we don’t have to wait around for an actual live game to be played. 

With sports betting now legal, we’re seeing a rise in different betting concepts and plenty of action on the sports betting provider front, with companies clamouring to get a slice of the fan pie. The industry is super-hot right now and probably will be until…? Betting offers us a sense of excitement and escapism that can be hard to beat.

Plus, as technology gets more and more clever, we’re likely to see the rise of plenty of seemingly “true to life” fantasy sports betting with our favourite teams or players from the real world. Technology will soon be at the place where we can generate seemingly live games, perhaps drop in our favourite picks from throughout the decades and watch them match up – like your XBox NBA 2K19, but better.

Stay tuned to see when the NBA Last 90 is released so you can get in on the action and try it out for yourself.