Evan \u201cBig Ev\u201d McDowell broke his silence Wednesday in a video posted to social media, confirming that he checked himself into a residential treatment center for a gambling addiction, in what amounted to his first public statement since disappearing from Barstool Sports content in early April amid allegations that he stiffed multiple illegal bookmakers out of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a gambling addict, and it just got way out of control,\u201d McDowell said in the video<\/a>. \u201cI needed to go to a treatment center like that, get help, admit that I\u2019m powerless over it, had to go get the help I needed, and I\u2019m feeling better than I felt in a really, really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Life Update: Went to rehab to get treatment. Truly sorry for any negativity I caused. Thank you to my family\/friends who stood by me. Grateful to still work at Barstool. Proud of the changes I\u2019ve made. Thank you @Diamondrecov3ry<\/a><\/p>\n DMs open for anyone struggling with mental health. pic.twitter.com\/wrnX53ozo7<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Unbiased Ev (@DoubleVodkaDon) June 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n McDowell said he spent a little over a month at the facility, praised the staff, and said he\u2019s proud of the work he put in. He acknowledged that things had \u201cgotten completely out of control\u201d and that he knew, at some level, it was going to blow up. He apologized to anyone affected and said he\u2019s \u201cglad I was able to put that behind me\u201d before coming forward with the statement.<\/p>\n He also confirmed he\u2019s still with Barstool. \u201cShout out to Dave, shout out to Barstool for giving me the space I need to go get help,\u201d he said, calling it the best company in the world and saying there\u2019s nowhere else he\u2019d rather be.<\/p>\n The video is the first time McDowell has addressed the situation directly. He went dark on social media on April 1, the same day he last posted to his @DoubleVodkaDon account, and had not appeared on Picks Central since. Barstool never issued any public statement. The only acknowledgment from inside the company<\/a> came from Kirk Minihane, who said on his podcast that McDowell \u201cclearly has some issues beyond that\u201d while admitting he knew nothing about the situation officially, and from Adam \u201cRone\u201d Ferrone, who noted that viewers kept flooding chat streams with Big Ev questions before essentially asking what anyone wanted him to say about it. That was the full extent of Barstool\u2019s public engagement with the story.<\/p>\n\n