NYSE Charges Casino Tarnished Image
Stock speculation is not gambling. A broker’s fee is not house money. And just to reinforce those points, the New York Stock Exchange has sued a Las Vegas casino that linked the venerable Manhattan institution with its slot machines.
The 205-year-old NYSE accused the recently opened New York, New York Hotel & Casino in a lawsuit Wednesday of undermining its reputation.
If the exchange has its way, the front of the casino and its imitation of the columns that front the actual exchange will be demolished. Ditto the signs reading, “New York, New York Stock Exchange,” “New York $lot Exchange” and “NY$E.”
The casino is “mutilating and bastardizing” the appearance of the NYSE’s trademarks and has “tarnished, blurred, diluted and disparaged” its reputation, goodwill and trademarks, the lawsuit said. It seeks three times the casino’s profit since its Jan. 3 opening.
The lawsuit does not suggest the financial markets are immune from the kind of criticism tossed the way of casinos over the years. But, it pointed out, “in an industry often the subject of criticism, the Exchange has provided a reliable and trustworthy forum.”
Thus, it said, the NYSE’s trademarks “have become world famous and are jealously guarded by the Exchange to prevent their diminution or tarnishment.”
In one exhibit attached to its court papers, the exchange includes a casino advertisement that announces “New York $lot Exchange: Where Dividends are Paid Daily.”
The target of the NYSE’s wrath is a $460-million casino that challenges its visitors to explore just how well it imitated features of New York City.
There’s a Coney Island-style roller coaster that rides past a miniature Statue of Liberty and a city skyline with one-third-scale replicas of the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.
There’s a copy of the Brooklyn Bridge that runs the length of a football field. Guests at the casino’s 2,035-room hotel and gambling parlors can stroll down Park Avenue or Broadway, or through Greenwich Village or Little Italy.
Casino spokesman Marty Moore said he could not comment on the lawsuit but said the casino is attracting crowds eager to see “if we pulled off the essence of New York City.”
Exchange spokesman Ray Pellecchia said the NYSE believes that the use of its name and facade “suggests our sponsorship or licensing of the business.”
As for comparisons between casino gambling and trading in financial markets, Pellecchia said: “We do think that people should be aware of the distinction between the two. It’s a distinction between entertainment and capital formation.”
