Undefined variable connect

I got: Notice: Undefined variable: connect in _email_verify_check() (line 64 of .../sites/all/modules/contrib/email_verify/email_verify.inc.php).
If not a valid host is found in getmxrr($host, $mx_hosts), the variable $connect is undefined in PHP 7.1
I added $connect = ''; before: foreach ($mx_hosts as $smtp) {.