Gamblers will soon be able to bet on fake NBA games


The NBA is really going all in on legalized sports betting.
The league, in conjunction with the NBA Players' Association and United Kingdom-based Highlight Games Limited, announced on Wednesday that it will create a virtual sports-gambling game called NBA Last 90, because people apparently want to spend their money betting on games that are not real. The league will reportedly splice together clips from its archives of old games to create the final 90 seconds of a simulated matchup between two NBA teams.
It'd work like this, Bloomberg reports: Fans will watch 90 seconds of clips between two teams from previous matchups between the squads. The clips will then be strung together as if it were a new game, and those watching can put money down on who will "win." A random number generator, like those used in slot machines, will determine the outcomes of the simulations, ESPN reports.
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The NBA has heartily embraced legalized sports betting, Bloomberg reports, and has even been lobbying statehouses across the countries. As for the virtual aspect, it's new to the U.S. sports betting landscape, but is reportedly popular in Europe, which is what stoked the NBA's interest in the first place.
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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
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