http://www.gullible.info/archive.php?m=2005-12#post472

Question: Walmart gift cards don't expire, how could this be true?

Answer: Actually, Wal-Mart adapts their policies based on store locale. For instance: In Russia, Wal-Mart doesn't even advertise with the familiar yellow smiley face logo because of Russia's strict "first come first serve" copyright laws. In the case of gift cards in the United States their policy is different in every state, per state revised statue. Many states leave no regulation on expiration dates, in which case Wal-Mart sets an expiration date of two years on their gift cards. Some states (Ohio, Florida, and Alabama to name a few) actually require gift cards to expire in five years. However, those states also mandate that the expired money be donated to the State Treasury. Truthfully, of the $27 million that expired only $15 million went back into Wal-Mart's pocket -- five million dollars was donated to charities, and seven million dollars was claimed by local governments.