Retail stores make tons of money on gift cards - specifically, when people don't use the balance or lose them. See https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/10/3-billion-of-

Retail stores make tons of money on gift cards - specifically, when people don't use the balance or lose them. See https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/10/3-billion-of-gift-cards-go-unused-each-year-dont-let-them-go-to-waste.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/10/3-billion-of-gift-cards-go-u.... It's like the stores are essentially minting their own money at this point. They have zero incentive to put "checks and balances" in place, unless they start losing money on it from some king of federal penalties tied to cases like the one in the article.