President Donald Trump reportedly lobbied in favor of a billionaire donor’s business interests when meeting last year with his Japanese counterpart.

The president told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a February 2017 meeting in Florida that he should strongly consider a casino bid from the company run by Sheldon Adelson, according to a ProPublica report on Wednesday citing unnamed sources.

The president raising a major donor’s personal business interests in a direct way with a foreign head of state would represent a break with longstanding norms, the report said.

Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. LVS, +1.93% and its rivals are competing for a limited number of licenses to build casinos in Japan in the wake of the country’s move to legalize such facilities. Japan is viewed by the industry as one of the world’s last untapped markets, and its market could be worth up to $25 billion per year.

Trump also mentioned at least one other casino operator, but accounts differ on whether it was MGM Resorts International MGM, -0.88% or Wynn Resorts Ltd. WYNN, +0.53% , according to the ProPublica report. Wynn Resorts in 2017 was run by Trump donor Steve Wynn, who went on to resign as CEO and chairman in February 2018. Japanese officials reportedly were surprised by Trump’s gambit and didn’t really respond.

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Adelson, the CEO and chairman of Las Vegas Sands, and his wife contributed $20 million to Trump’s presidential campaign and gave $5 million to help fund his inaugural festivities.

The White House and Las Vegas Sands did not immediately respond to requests for comment.