Trump Reportedly Told Abe to Mull Casino License to Supporter

October 12, 2018

Washington- U.S. President Donald Trump told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to strongly consider a casino license for one of Trump's biggest benefactors last year, a U.S. media report said Wednesday.

At a meeting in February last year, Trump raised the issue of a casino bid of Sheldon Adelson, chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp., the biggest casino operator in the United States, according to ProPublica.

Abe did not respond directly to Trump, but merely said, "Thank you for the information," a person briefed on the exchange told the U.S. investigative news organization.

Japanese officials were "a little incredulous that he (Trump) would be so brazen," the person was quoted as saying.

Just before the meeting, held at the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Adelson and Trump had dinner in Washington, ProPublica said.

Adelson, who donated 20 million dollars to support Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, has called expanding to Japan as the "holy grail," the report said.

Japan enacted a bill to introduce casino-featuring integrated resorts in July this year. A media report has said Trump mentioned specific companies to Abe. But the Japanese leader flatly denied the report at a parliamentary meeting that month. Jiji Press