By Nick Devor

A DraftKings legal executive deleted the words "diverse" and "inclusive" from the draft of a statement that detailed the firm's plans to launch a Spanish language feature on its sports-betting app, according to an email exchange reviewed by Barron's.

The draft statement intended to be given to members of the press initially said that DraftKings is rolling out the Spanish feature "to support a more accessible and inclusive experience," adding that it will go through an initial beta test among a small group of users "before expanding more broadly to meet the needs of our diverse customer base."

Senior Director of Communications Stephen Miraglia sent the draft statement to Chief Legal Officer Stanton Dodge for review. Dodge responded with what he called a "slightly revised" version that omitted the words "diverse" and "inclusive" and made no other changes.

The revised statement read: "At DraftKings, our customers are at the center of everything we do. To support a more accessible experience, we're beta testing a Spanish-language feature in our sportsbook with a small group of customers. This phased approach helps ensure we deliver a high-quality, engaging feature before expanding more broadly to meet the needs of our customer base."

The email exchange, on which a Barron's reporter was copied, illustrates a changing attitude among corporations toward diversity, equity, and inclusion $(DEI)$ policies. Big Tech firms, for example, have scrubbed mentions of DEI from corporate filings in the wake of President Donald J. Trump's executive orders targeting those initiatives. Just last year, DraftKings highlighted in a proxy filing that it had been awarded a "Culture Excellence Award for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Practices" for the third year in a row from TopWorkplaces.com.

Asked about the emails, DraftKings said it was "disappointed that Barron's is reporting on a confidential internal email exchange on which a reporter was mistakenly copied, and then speculating on why certain edits were made to a statement, when the email itself provided no reason for the changes."

Roughly 90 users will participate in the beta test set to begin this week for DraftKings' Spanish language feature, according to the emails viewed by Barron's. The sports-betting app is currently only available in English, according to its page on the Apple App Store.

About 14% of Americans speak Spanish, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, making it the second-most spoken language in the country. A 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that 24% of U.S. adults identifying as Hispanic bet money on sports in the previous 12 months.

The major U.S. operators haven't paid much attention to the Spanish-speaking demographic, says Jeffrey Stantial, who covers the gambling industry for Stifel.

Stantial says he believes FanDuel-parent Flutter Entertainment is the best-positioned company to win the Spanish-speaking market. Flutter's gambling platform Betfair is available in Spain and went live in Brazil at the beginning of the year. That launch may serve as an entry point into Latin America.

Stantial says that "if you do see Flutter eventually expand into Mexico, then a lot of that product development and new bet types that they have to do to cater to the Mexico market is going to translate pretty solidly up to the southern state-Hispanic population."

Flutter didn't respond to a request for comment about expansion plans or plans to add its own Spanish-language feature to FanDuel.

DraftKings and FanDuel users in the U.S. can already bet on the professional soccer leagues of multiple Spanish-speaking countries, including Mexico, Spain, and Argentina.

Sportsbooks haven't prioritized the U.S. Spanish-speaking population because online sports betting isn't legally accessible in certain areas, says Jordan Bender, who directs analyst coverage of the gambling industry for Citizens Bank.

"The states with a predominance of Spanish speakers, like California, Texas, Nevada, and Florida, do not have access to online sports betting, or the company is not live in these states," Bender tells Barron's.

In the long term, Bender says that "the addition of a Spanish version could bring in an incremental cohort of customers" for DraftKings.

DraftKings stock is up 18% this year, compared with the S&P 500's gain of 6.2%. Flutter stock has gained 14%.

Write to Nick Devor at nicholas.devor@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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July 16, 2025 12:50 ET (16:50 GMT)

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