Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul and GOP megadonor, dies at 87

Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino mogul, died Monday. He was 87. A Tuesday press release from Las Vegas Sands, the casino and resort company he owned, stated that the cause of death was complications related to treatment he was receiving for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Adelson entered the casino business in the late 1980s, per CNBC, when he purchased the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas for $128 million. Las Vegas Sands became a global resort brand with properties in the United States and Asia, and Adelson's net worth ultimately checked in at a Forbes-estimated $33 billion.

Outside of his business ventures, Adelson built a reputation as one of the Republican Party's most crucial benefactors, donating millions to former President George W. Bush, as well as 2012 GOP presidential candidates like Newt Gingrich, and now-Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who was the nominee that year.

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He was also one of President Trump's biggest financial supporters in 2020, and he and his wife, Miriam, gave more than $340 million to Republican causes between the 2018 and 2020 election cycles. Read more at CNBC.