/**
* HTTP API: WP_Http_Curl class
*
* @package WordPress
* @subpackage HTTP
* @since 4.4.0
*/
/**
* Core class used to integrate Curl as an HTTP transport.
*
* HTTP request method uses Curl extension to retrieve the url.
*
* Requires the Curl extension to be installed.
*
* @since 2.7.0
* @deprecated 6.4.0 Use WP_Http
* @see WP_Http
*/
#[AllowDynamicProperties]
class WP_Http_Curl {
/**
* Temporary header storage for during requests.
*
* @since 3.2.0
* @var string
*/
private $headers = '';
/**
* Temporary body storage for during requests.
*
* @since 3.6.0
* @var string
*/
private $body = '';
/**
* The maximum amount of data to receive from the remote server.
*
* @since 3.6.0
* @var int|false
*/
private $max_body_length = false;
/**
* The file resource used for streaming to file.
*
* @since 3.6.0
* @var resource|false
*/
private $stream_handle = false;
/**
* The total bytes written in the current request.
*
* @since 4.1.0
* @var int
*/
private $bytes_written_total = 0;
/**
* Send a HTTP request to a URI using cURL extension.
*
* @since 2.7.0
*
* @param string $url The request URL.
* @param string|array $args Optional. Override the defaults.
* @return array|WP_Error Array containing 'headers', 'body', 'response', 'cookies', 'filename'. A WP_Error instance upon error
*/
public function request( $url, $args = array() ) {
$defaults = array(
'method' => 'GET',
'timeout' => 5,
'redirection' => 5,
'httpversion' => '1.0',
'blocking' => true,
'headers' => array(),
'body' => null,
'cookies' => array(),
'decompress' => false,
'stream' => false,
'filename' => null,
);
$parsed_args = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );
if ( isset( $parsed_args['headers']['User-Agent'] ) ) {
$parsed_args['user-agent'] = $parsed_args['headers']['User-Agent'];
unset( $parsed_args['headers']['User-Agent'] );
} elseif ( isset( $parsed_args['headers']['user-agent'] ) ) {
$parsed_args['user-agent'] = $parsed_args['headers']['user-agent'];
unset( $parsed_args['headers']['user-agent'] );
}
// Construct Cookie: header if any cookies are set.
WP_Http::buildCookieHeader( $parsed_args );
$handle = curl_init();
// cURL offers really easy proxy support.
$proxy = new WP_HTTP_Proxy();
if ( $proxy->is_enabled() && $proxy->send_through_proxy( $url ) ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROXYTYPE, CURLPROXY_HTTP );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROXY, $proxy->host() );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROXYPORT, $proxy->port() );
if ( $proxy->use_authentication() ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROXYAUTH, CURLAUTH_ANY );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROXYUSERPWD, $proxy->authentication() );
}
}
$is_local = isset( $parsed_args['local'] ) && $parsed_args['local'];
$ssl_verify = isset( $parsed_args['sslverify'] ) && $parsed_args['sslverify'];
if ( $is_local ) {
/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/class-wp-http-streams.php */
$ssl_verify = apply_filters( 'https_local_ssl_verify', $ssl_verify, $url );
} elseif ( ! $is_local ) {
/** This filter is documented in wp-includes/class-wp-http.php */
$ssl_verify = apply_filters( 'https_ssl_verify', $ssl_verify, $url );
}
/*
* CURLOPT_TIMEOUT and CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT expect integers. Have to use ceil since.
* a value of 0 will allow an unlimited timeout.
*/
$timeout = (int) ceil( $parsed_args['timeout'] );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, $timeout );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, $timeout );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_URL, $url );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYHOST, ( true === $ssl_verify ) ? 2 : false );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, $ssl_verify );
if ( $ssl_verify ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CAINFO, $parsed_args['sslcertificates'] );
}
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_USERAGENT, $parsed_args['user-agent'] );
/*
* The option doesn't work with safe mode or when open_basedir is set, and there's
* a bug #17490 with redirected POST requests, so handle redirections outside Curl.
*/
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, false );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_PROTOCOLS, CURLPROTO_HTTP | CURLPROTO_HTTPS );
switch ( $parsed_args['method'] ) {
case 'HEAD':
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_NOBODY, true );
break;
case 'POST':
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POST, true );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $parsed_args['body'] );
break;
case 'PUT':
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, 'PUT' );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $parsed_args['body'] );
break;
default:
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, $parsed_args['method'] );
if ( ! is_null( $parsed_args['body'] ) ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $parsed_args['body'] );
}
break;
}
if ( true === $parsed_args['blocking'] ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADERFUNCTION, array( $this, 'stream_headers' ) );
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_WRITEFUNCTION, array( $this, 'stream_body' ) );
}
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HEADER, false );
if ( isset( $parsed_args['limit_response_size'] ) ) {
$this->max_body_length = (int) $parsed_args['limit_response_size'];
} else {
$this->max_body_length = false;
}
// If streaming to a file open a file handle, and setup our curl streaming handler.
if ( $parsed_args['stream'] ) {
if ( ! WP_DEBUG ) {
$this->stream_handle = @fopen( $parsed_args['filename'], 'w+' );
} else {
$this->stream_handle = fopen( $parsed_args['filename'], 'w+' );
}
if ( ! $this->stream_handle ) {
return new WP_Error(
'http_request_failed',
sprintf(
/* translators: 1: fopen(), 2: File name. */
__( 'Could not open handle for %1$s to %2$s.' ),
'fopen()',
$parsed_args['filename']
)
);
}
} else {
$this->stream_handle = false;
}
if ( ! empty( $parsed_args['headers'] ) ) {
// cURL expects full header strings in each element.
$headers = array();
foreach ( $parsed_args['headers'] as $name => $value ) {
$headers[] = "{$name}: $value";
}
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers );
}
if ( '1.0' === $parsed_args['httpversion'] ) {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_0 );
} else {
curl_setopt( $handle, CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION, CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1 );
}
/**
* Fires before the cURL request is executed.
*
* Cookies are not currently handled by the HTTP API. This action allows
* plugins to handle cookies themselves.
*
* @since 2.8.0
*
* @param resource $handle The cURL handle returned by curl_init() (passed by reference).
* @param array $parsed_args The HTTP request arguments.
* @param string $url The request URL.
*/
do_action_ref_array( 'http_api_curl', array( &$handle, $parsed_args, $url ) );
// We don't need to return the body, so don't. Just execute request and return.
if ( ! $parsed_args['blocking'] ) {
curl_exec( $handle );
$curl_error = curl_error( $handle );
if ( $curl_error ) {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', $curl_error );
}
if ( in_array( curl_getinfo( $handle, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE ), array( 301, 302 ), true ) ) {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', __( 'Too many redirects.' ) );
}
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return array(
'headers' => array(),
'body' => '',
'response' => array(
'code' => false,
'message' => false,
),
'cookies' => array(),
);
}
curl_exec( $handle );
$processed_headers = WP_Http::processHeaders( $this->headers, $url );
$body = $this->body;
$bytes_written_total = $this->bytes_written_total;
$this->headers = '';
$this->body = '';
$this->bytes_written_total = 0;
$curl_error = curl_errno( $handle );
// If an error occurred, or, no response.
if ( $curl_error || ( 0 === strlen( $body ) && empty( $processed_headers['headers'] ) ) ) {
if ( CURLE_WRITE_ERROR /* 23 */ === $curl_error ) {
if ( ! $this->max_body_length || $this->max_body_length !== $bytes_written_total ) {
if ( $parsed_args['stream'] ) {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
fclose( $this->stream_handle );
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', __( 'Failed to write request to temporary file.' ) );
} else {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', curl_error( $handle ) );
}
}
} else {
$curl_error = curl_error( $handle );
if ( $curl_error ) {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', $curl_error );
}
}
if ( in_array( curl_getinfo( $handle, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE ), array( 301, 302 ), true ) ) {
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
return new WP_Error( 'http_request_failed', __( 'Too many redirects.' ) );
}
}
if ( PHP_VERSION_ID < 80000 ) { // curl_close() has no effect as of PHP 8.0.
curl_close( $handle );
}
if ( $parsed_args['stream'] ) {
fclose( $this->stream_handle );
}
$response = array(
'headers' => $processed_headers['headers'],
'body' => null,
'response' => $processed_headers['response'],
'cookies' => $processed_headers['cookies'],
'filename' => $parsed_args['filename'],
);
// Handle redirects.
$redirect_response = WP_Http::handle_redirects( $url, $parsed_args, $response );
if ( false !== $redirect_response ) {
return $redirect_response;
}
if ( true === $parsed_args['decompress']
&& true === WP_Http_Encoding::should_decode( $processed_headers['headers'] )
) {
$body = WP_Http_Encoding::decompress( $body );
}
$response['body'] = $body;
return $response;
}
/**
* Grabs the headers of the cURL request.
*
* Each header is sent individually to this callback, and is appended to the `$header` property
* for temporary storage.
*
* @since 3.2.0
*
* @param resource $handle cURL handle.
* @param string $headers cURL request headers.
* @return int Length of the request headers.
*/
private function stream_headers( $handle, $headers ) {
$this->headers .= $headers;
return strlen( $headers );
}
/**
* Grabs the body of the cURL request.
*
* The contents of the document are passed in chunks, and are appended to the `$body`
* property for temporary storage. Returning a length shorter than the length of
* `$data` passed in will cause cURL to abort the request with `CURLE_WRITE_ERROR`.
*
* @since 3.6.0
*
* @param resource $handle cURL handle.
* @param string $data cURL request body.
* @return int Total bytes of data written.
*/
private function stream_body( $handle, $data ) {
$data_length = strlen( $data );
if ( $this->max_body_length && ( $this->bytes_written_total + $data_length ) > $this->max_body_length ) {
$data_length = ( $this->max_body_length - $this->bytes_written_total );
$data = substr( $data, 0, $data_length );
}
if ( $this->stream_handle ) {
$bytes_written = fwrite( $this->stream_handle, $data );
} else {
$this->body .= $data;
$bytes_written = $data_length;
}
$this->bytes_written_total += $bytes_written;
// Upon event of this function returning less than strlen( $data ) curl will error with CURLE_WRITE_ERROR.
return $bytes_written;
}
/**
* Determines whether this class can be used for retrieving a URL.
*
* @since 2.7.0
*
* @param array $args Optional. Array of request arguments. Default empty array.
* @return bool False means this class can not be used, true means it can.
*/
public static function test( $args = array() ) {
if ( ! function_exists( 'curl_init' ) || ! function_exists( 'curl_exec' ) ) {
return false;
}
$is_ssl = isset( $args['ssl'] ) && $args['ssl'];
if ( $is_ssl ) {
$curl_version = curl_version();
// Check whether this cURL version support SSL requests.
if ( ! ( CURL_VERSION_SSL & $curl_version['features'] ) ) {
return false;
}
}
/**
* Filters whether cURL can be used as a transport for retrieving a URL.
*
* @since 2.7.0
*
* @param bool $use_class Whether the class can be used. Default true.
* @param array $args An array of request arguments.
*/
return apply_filters( 'use_curl_transport', true, $args );
}
}
One of the most effective strategies is to leverage the power of social media and online forums. By creating a buzz around negative experiences, players can put pressure on the casino to address grievances. This can be achieved by sharing personal stories of unfair treatment, delayed payouts, or poor customer service on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. A well-timed post that garners attention can create a ripple effect, prompting the casino to act quickly to avoid further reputational damage. The fear of public backlash can be a strong motivator for casinos to improve their practices.

Another tactic involves the use of coordinated player movements. By organizing groups of players who share similar grievances, a collective voice can be formed. This can take the shape of petitions, organized complaints, or even threatening to withdraw funds en masse if the casino does not comply with demands. The fear of losing a significant number of players can force an online casino to reconsider its policies, especially if it values its customer base and revenue.
Legal intimidation is also a viable strategy. Players can educate themselves about gambling laws and regulations in their jurisdiction and leverage this knowledge to threaten legal action if the casino fails to adhere to them. This could involve issues such as unfair gaming practices, failure to pay winnings, or not providing clear terms and conditions. By threatening legal action, players can scare casinos into compliance, as the costs associated with legal disputes can be substantial.
Another approach is to expose unethical practices through investigative reporting. Players can gather evidence of unfair practices, such as rigged games or misleading advertising, and present this information to gambling regulators or consumer protection agencies. The fear of regulatory scrutiny can compel an online casino to change its practices to avoid fines or sanctions.
Furthermore, utilizing the anonymity of the internet can be a powerful tool. Players can create multiple accounts to test the limits of a casino’s policies and expose any inconsistencies or unfair treatment. By documenting these experiences and sharing them publicly, players can create a narrative that puts pressure on the casino to change its ways. The fear of being labeled as an unfair operator can lead casinos to reevaluate their practices.
Lastly, fostering a community of informed players can create a culture of vigilance. By educating fellow players about their rights and the tactics they can use to hold casinos accountable, a more empowered player base can emerge. This collective knowledge can intimidate casinos, as they realize that players are no longer passive but are actively seeking to challenge unfair practices.
In conclusion, while the idea of scaring an online casino may seem unconventional, it is a strategy that can yield significant results. By leveraging social media, collective action, legal knowledge, investigative reporting, and community engagement, players can create an environment where online casinos are compelled to prioritize fairness and transparency. The fear of losing customers and facing public backlash can drive casinos to adopt more player-friendly policies, ultimately benefiting the entire gambling community.
]]>One of the primary reasons for the casino’s closure is the financial strain it has experienced in recent years. Like many businesses in the hospitality and entertainment sectors, the Milton Keynes Casino has faced declining revenues, particularly in the wake of the pandemic. The restrictions imposed during lockdowns severely limited the casino’s ability to operate, leading to significant losses. Even as restrictions were lifted, the casino struggled to attract patrons back, as many people remained hesitant to engage in social activities in crowded environments.
Additionally, the casino has been subject to increasing regulatory scrutiny. The gambling industry in the UK is heavily regulated, and casinos must adhere to strict licensing requirements and operational standards. In recent years, there have been calls for tighter regulations to address concerns about problem gambling and the social impacts of casinos. These regulatory pressures can create additional operational costs and challenges for casinos, making it difficult for them to remain profitable. The Milton Keynes Casino may have found it increasingly difficult to comply with these regulations while trying to maintain a sustainable business model.
Moreover, competition in the gaming and entertainment sector has intensified. The rise of online gambling platforms has transformed the landscape, with many players opting for the convenience of online casinos over traditional brick-and-mortar establishments. This shift has led to a decrease in foot traffic for physical casinos, including the Milton Keynes Casino. The need to adapt to changing consumer preferences has placed additional strain on the casino’s operations, making it challenging to remain competitive.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also had a lasting impact on the casino’s closure. While many businesses have adapted to the new normal by implementing health and safety measures, some establishments have struggled to recover from the extensive disruptions caused by the pandemic. The casino industry, in particular, has faced unique challenges, including the need to limit capacity and enforce social distancing measures, which have further hampered its ability to generate revenue.
Lastly, the closure of the Milton Keynes Casino may also reflect broader trends within the local economy. As consumer behavior shifts and the demand for traditional entertainment venues evolves, businesses must adapt to survive. The casino’s closure could be indicative of changing attitudes towards gambling and entertainment in the region, as well as the need for businesses to innovate and diversify their offerings to meet the needs of a changing market.
In conclusion, the closure of the Milton Keynes Casino can be attributed to a combination of financial difficulties exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing regulatory pressures, competition from online gambling, and broader shifts in consumer behavior. As the entertainment landscape continues to evolve, the future of such establishments remains uncertain, prompting a reevaluation of their role in the community.
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