– NBA Last 90 to Debut Next Season –

NEW YORK AND LONDON, June 19, 2019 – The National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and Highlight Games Limited, a specialist gaming supplier, today announced an innovative partnership with the creation of NBA Last 90 – the exclusive virtual sports betting game that will utilize actual NBA highlights and footage.  NBA Last 90 is set to debut in U.S. and European gaming and lottery markets during the 2019-20 NBA season.

Virtual sports gaming, already a popular gaming product throughout Europe, allows fans to bet on simulated sports events powered by a random number generator.  NBA Last 90 will feature a vast archive of NBA highlights and footage from recent NBA seasons and will offer players a unique and compelling virtual sports gaming experience.

NBA Last 90 players will have the ability to wager on various outcomes, including which team will win, who will score on the first possession and the total number of points scored by both teams, during the last 90 seconds of a simulated matchup between two NBA teams.  A vast archive of NBA highlights and footage will be randomly pulled from any matchup over recent seasons between the two teams, producing millions of possible outcomes.

The game will be distributed to licensed gaming operators in multiple regions across the world, initially launching in Europe and will expand to include the United States later in the 2019-20 NBA season.  Fans can expect to see NBA Last 90 across multiple channels, including retail locations, online and in mobile applications.

NBA Last 90 can be previewed at https://highlight-games.com/.

“Virtual sports betting is incredibly popular in regions around the world and we’re looking forward to giving fans another innovative way to engage with the NBA,” said Scott Kaufman-Ross, Head of Fantasy & Gaming, NBA.  “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.”

“We are extremely excited about this partnership and the potential future opportunities for our players in the virtual gaming space,” said Josh Goodstadt, Executive Vice President of Licensing for THINK450, the commercial arm of the NBPA. “We look forward to working with the NBA and Highlight Games to create a unique gaming experience that will help to grow the popularity of the players and the league worldwide.”

“I’m delighted to announce this groundbreaking partnership with NBA and NBPA,” said Tim Green, CEO Highlight Games.  “Highlight Games has an ambitious strategy to enter the nascent US sports betting and virtual sports market, and this collaboration is the first important step on that journey. NBA Last 90 features real NBA stars and real NBA highlights, differentiating it from any other virtual sports product on the market.  We’re confident that players around the world will be instantly engaged with NBA Last 90.”

About the NBA

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around four professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, the NBA G League and the NBA 2K League.  The NBA has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 50 languages, and merchandise for sale in more than 100,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2018-19 season featured 108 international players from 42 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA League Pass.  The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with 1.6 billion likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

About the NBPA
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is the union for current professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Established in 1954, the NBPA’s mission is to ensure that the rights of NBA players are protected and that every conceivable measure is taken to assist players in maximizing their opportunities and achieving their goals — on and off the court.

The NBPA advocates on behalf of the best interests of all NBA players, including the negotiation of collective bargaining agreements, the filing of grievances on behalf of the players, or counseling players on benefits, educational and post-NBA career opportunities.

In addition, the NBPA provides a forum for players to participate in union activities – including executive leadership roles, team representative positions and global community outreach initiatives. The NBPA offers each NBA player the opportunity to get involved in the democratic institution that was created for, continues to exist for and is run by them.

About Highlight Games Limited
Highlight Games is a specialist games supplier founded in 2014 and managed by CEO Tim Green, Director Stewart Whittle, Director Nick Gardiner and General Counsel Steven Holmes.  Specialising in creating innovative, sports focused betting experiences, the Company’s flagship SOCCERBET™ product features highly optimized game design based on decades of archived live action football and can be tailored to suit the sportsbook or virtuals offering of operators around the globe across retail, online and mobile. See www.highlight-games.comfor further information.

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Contact:
Elinor Fewster, Highlight Games, +44 (0) 7957586674 or elinor@highlight-games.com

Elle Hagedorn, NBPA, 212.655.0896 or elle.hagedorn@nbpa.com

Kyle Van Fechtmann, NBA, 212.658.1687 or KVanFechtmann@nba.com