The global shortage of raw materials now seems to be the new pandemic. Every day much of what I buy has increases that at the end of the month can be around 20%, according to DANE (Colombia statistic entity) we are at 4.3% so far this year.

The shortage has touched the toilet in my house, I was going to change it and I had to wait 3 weeks for them to sell it to me, which saved me from going "to the flea market to buy it second hand".

Product deliveries from Asia to the United States take between 120 and 180 days. In the best-case scenario, computer boards, printed circuit boards and everything that uses integrated circuits or chips have suffered an additional blow linked to the trade war between China and the United States for supremacy in world trade. The latter's project to build integrated chip production plants so as not to depend on China has been postponed since the appetite for electronics has far exceeded the installed production capacity and this is not the time to invest in new projects. In fact, manufacturers such as Intel or AMD are recycling processors using functions that were wasted, to offer a "New" but not "Better" product to the world market.

In Colombia, Argentina, Peru and other Central American countries where there is an established gambling industry, the lack of components for repair or replacement is already a daily issue; auctions of monitors from Universities or computer centers are razed, to remove their plastic casings and sell them to replace those that cannot be repaired for lack of elements or capable people, which by the way is another major shortcoming of the industry since the oversupply of unskilled labor has reduced the quality of service.

For replacement, the used hardware products that can be found have the same price as new ones, but it is what is available and it is better to have a machine with something old than to have it turned off, even if the equipment is being devalued.

Now, this is not exclusive to Colombia, incredibly in the United States, England, Canada it is the same, the spare parts for Slot machines are scarce, the factories are tied hands because of what I was telling you about the war between China and the United States and subordinated to the ups and downs of the market. They are selling what they have in stock but how long will the inventory last?

Casino equipment manufacturers are out of inventory but casinos and operators have thousands of pieces of equipment that need attention, no new parts and gamblers who have to play, an equation that speaks of imbalance, but also of a business opportunity