Years of NBA fandom pays off as QC salesman wins P5-M in ArenaPlus campaign

Years of following the NBA paid off for a salesman from Banawe, Quezon City after he won ₱5 million from the ₱50 million shared prize pool of ArenaPlus' NBA Playoffs MVP: Battle for the Most Valuable Predictor campaign.

A basketball fan since the era of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, the 39-year-old emerged as one of the winners of the free-to-play prediction contest, which challenged participants to forecast the outcomes of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.

Launched in March, the campaign gave participants two entries each to predict every playoff matchup, from the first round through the NBA Finals. Contestants were required to correctly identify the winners of all 15 playoff series, with only fully verified entries considered valid.

One participant claimed the guaranteed ₱100 million MVP Bracket prize by recording the highest number of correct predictions, while those with the next-best results shared the ₱50 million prize pool.

The Quezon City salesman was among those who secured a share of the pool, taking home ₱5 million.

He was formally recognized during an episode of ArenaPlus' "All in sa Arena" on Facebook and YouTube following the New York Knicks' 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals on 14 June.

For the winner, the prize was the culmination of decades spent following the league.

After initially becoming a fan during the Bulls' championship run, he later supported the Boston Celtics during the "Big Three" era of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. This season, however, he found himself rooting for the Knicks.

Drawing from years of watching the league, he analyzed playoff matchups before making his predictions. One of his entries projected an NBA Finals showdown between the Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

His second bracket proved to be the winning one, predicting that the Knicks would defeat the Spurs in the Finals.

The fan cited the strong play of Jalen Brunson as one of the reasons he believed New York could make a championship run, while also pointing to the experience of Jordan Clarkson and the team's healthy roster.

Also recognized during the awarding ceremony was 38-year-old Matt Rivera, who received ₱10,000 worth of ArenaPlus betting credits after correctly predicting a Spurs-Knicks Finals matchup but selecting San Antonio to win the title.

Erick Su, head of ArenaPlus, congratulated the winners and said their success reflected Filipinos' deep understanding of basketball.

"This contest proved something we've known for a long time — Filipinos don't just love basketball, they understand the game at a very high level," Su said.

"The winners were able to make the right calls because they followed the season closely, studied the matchups and trusted their instincts. That's what the NBA Playoffs MVP: Battle for the Most Valuable Predictor campaign was all about."