After opening almost a year ago, Plainridge Park Casino has now implemented the Play Management software program that allows slot machines players to set self-imposed limits on their daily spending.

The Plainville venue is operated by Penn National Gaming and went live with 1,250 slots on June 24, 2015. It revealed that the first-of-its-kind program for an American casino was developed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to help gambling stay a fun and social activity while preventing players from developing a problem.

The voluntary program at the Massachusetts casino sees slot machines warn players when they have reached half, three-quarters and the full limit of a self-imposed spending threshold although it does not stop patrons from subsequently exceeding this ceiling. Similar to a program already operational in Australia that additionally features mandatory shut-offs, Play Management is to have its results monitored by a team from the nearby Harvard Medical School in order to determine its effectiveness.

“It allows you to monitor your activity,” Marlene Warner, Executive Director for the Massachusetts Council On Compulsive Gambling, told The Sun Chronicle newspaper.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission spent months designing and testing Play Management and declared that it may initiate the slot program at future casinos if it works well at Plainridge Park Casino.

For its part, Wyomissing-based Penn National Gaming stated that it supports the implementation of Play Management despite having had no hand in its development.

“We’re happy to be working with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to pilot this play management system and evaluating the customer response,” said Lance George, General Manager for Plainridge Park Casino.