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This must be for businesses that have a minimum sales volume. I've worked with 100's of micro-businesses that sell gift cards and gift certificates and none of them have ever had to turn anything that wasn't redeemed into the state.

Typically they will carry it forward for an unlimited amount of time for use by a client, but if someone doesn't use it within the first two years there is almost no chance they will be redeemed. Most of the time the total dollars brought in from the sale of gift cards is relatively small and will be claimed as income for income tax purposes in the year they're sold, but won't be claimed as income for sales tax purposes until the card/certificate is redeemed. For the businesses we work with (privately-owned photography businesses), in most states there's no sales tax unless actual product is sold/delivered.