In message , at 14:49:32 on Sat, 3 Mar 2012,
Stephen Sprunk remarked:
Why would they care if it's a gift card? A card is a card; as long as
the transaction is authorized, that's all that matters.

That's the big "if". There are many ticket vending machines, and
portable machines, which are simply not "online", so they can't
authorise at all.

Then the merchant is taking a risk on each transaction, regardless of
the card type.

There's always a small risk, and sometimes the ticket vendor will make a
[mobile] phone call if a particular cardholder raises suspicions. But as
we don't have these faux-credit-card gift cards here, and people with
credit cards and bank accounts that allow overdrafts usually do pay
these off, the only class where there's a serious worry is the
no-overdraft debit card holders.

Given the cheap and ubiquitous mobile data networks, there is no excuse
for not being able to do online authorization.

They aren't cheap and ubiquitous enough. In particular, the equipment
would need replacing (not just simple upgrading). I don't believe data
networks are ubiquitous in the USA either, if the very spotty mobile
phone coverage more than a few miles from major cities and highways is
anything to go by.
--
Roland Perry