CasinoFrame setup and publishing guides.

MaxMind: set up visitor-country detection

One-time setup is required. CasinoFrame includes the MaxMind integration, but installing the theme alone does not activate country detection. Supply your own MaxMind account ID and download-enabled licence key, then verify the database. CasinoFrame does not include a shared account, licence key or GeoLite database.

1. Before you start

• Install and activate CasinoFrame Core as well as the CasinoFrame theme. Use a WordPress administrator account for GEO setup.
• Create your own MaxMind account, complete its verification steps and accept its current terms yourself.
• Find the account ID in your MaxMind account. Generate a licence key permitted to download GeoLite databases. Record it securely when shown; MaxMind does not display the full key again.
• Keep the key private. Do not paste it into page content, screenshots, support messages, theme files or a public repository. Each customer uses their own account; a theme licence is not a MaxMind credential.
• Ask your host to allow outbound HTTPS downloads and writable private database storage. The integration needs WordPress scheduled tasks to run for automatic updates.

2. Connect MaxMind in WordPress

1. Open Casino Management → Visitor location.
2. Enable Use MaxMind GeoLite2 Country.
3. Enter your MaxMind account ID and MaxMind licence key.
4. Leave When visitor country is unknown on Hide paid Casino offers, unless you deliberately want unknown visitors treated as one chosen fallback market. A fallback is not a detected location.
5. Select Save and configure database. This attempts the first download and validates the database.
6. Under Provider status, confirm Credentials: configured and Local database: ready. A successful save alone is not proof that the download completed.

If the credential fields say they are managed in wp-config.php, ask your site administrator to manage them there. Do not create duplicate credentials in the page editor.

3. Verify before launch

• Use the one-time lookup test on Visitor location with a public IP address you are authorised to test and whose expected country you know. Private, local or reserved addresses may not resolve.
• Check the actual public site from your intended markets. Confirm country-specific casino availability, offers, flags and affiliate destinations; the lookup test does not prove your proxy supplies the correct visitor IP.
• Configure and review each casino and offer’s country rules. MaxMind identifies a likely country; it does not supply operator eligibility rules or determine legal compliance.
• Verify the unknown-country case. Without an explicit fallback, paid affiliate actions are withheld rather than assuming an eligible market.
• Check that a page cached for one country is not served with the wrong offers to another country.

4. What happens automatically

After successful configuration, country lookups use the local database. CasinoFrame’s native lookup does not send visitor IP addresses to MaxMind or store them. Your hosting logs and other plugins have their own behaviour.

A daily WordPress Cron task checks whether a newer database is available and downloads it when required. A failed replacement leaves the previous usable database in place; investigate failures rather than letting it become outdated.

• Low-traffic sites may not run WP-Cron on time. If your host disables WP-Cron, arrange a real scheduled task to run WordPress due events.
• Allow HTTPS access to download.maxmind.com and MaxMind’s signed download storage host mm-prod-geoip-databases.a2649acb697e2c09b632799562c076f2.r2.cloudflarestorage.com. The integration does not forward the credential header to that storage host.
• Provide enough disk space and permission to write the private database. If storage falls back under wp-content/casinoframe-private/geoip, ask your host to verify that HTTP access is blocked, particularly on Nginx or a custom server configuration.
• Monitor the last check/update status. Do not repeatedly force downloads: MaxMind applies account download limits.

5. If you use a CDN or reverse proxy

This may require hosting help. CasinoFrame uses the direct server peer address by default and deliberately does not trust visitor-supplied forwarded-IP or country headers.

Ask your host to restrict direct access to the origin, ensure the trusted proxy strips and rewrites its headers, and configure a trusted integration through casinoframe_geoip_client_address or the supported trusted-country provider. Do not simply enable arbitrary forwarded headers: they can be forged. Keep country-aware pages out of shared caches, or use a verified country-aware cache configuration. CasinoFrame marks resolved country responses private/no-store, but the CDN must respect that protection.

6. Troubleshooting

Credentials are missing or rejected

Check the account ID, key and GeoLite download permission in your own MaxMind account. If a key was exposed or revoked, replace it there, then enter the replacement directly in WordPress.

Credentials are configured but the database is missing

Check the displayed result, outbound HTTPS, storage permissions, disk space and download limits. Retry using the database-update action after fixing the cause.

The database is ready but a country is wrong or unknown

Check the public IP and proxy configuration, then update the database if needed. IP geolocation is approximate and can be affected by VPNs, mobile networks and reassigned addresses. A fallback market does not repair IP detection.

Updates are not running

Have your host verify WP-Cron and the scheduled casinoframe_geoip_refresh event. Do not disable TLS verification or firewall protection to force a download.

Casinos or offers do not appear

Check the detected/fallback country, casino and offer status, country restrictions, dates, and eligible destination. Successful GEO setup alone does not make every offer eligible.

Before handing over the site

• Credentials configured and local database ready.
• Expected-country and unknown-country behaviour checked.
• Casino/offer market rules and destinations verified.
• Cron, trusted proxy handling, private storage and caching checked with the host.
• The owner knows where to view status and update their key.

Official references: GeoLite setup · Downloads and updates · Commercial redistribution. This guide covers the customer-owned setup, not a Rivalless-managed GEO service.