Visa gift cards have historically been widely accepted (anywhere you see the Visa logo), with a few exceptions, mostly online.

InComm is one of the two major program managers in the space, and they have had really severe fraud problems for a few years. They cracked down hard on prepaid card ("gift card") redemption about two years ago (right after the holidays).

This is an ongoing problem involving Visa, InComm, DHS, and a couple banks. Customers are being damaged, Visa's brand is being damaged, etc.

InComm is invisible to customers, but it was their action that made (most) Visa open loop prepaid debit cards difficult to use.

Notably, the other major program manager (Blackhawk Networks) also runs a few lower-volume Visa card programs, and they are still accepted normally.

Informed customers can make an explicit decision to purchase only Blackhawk-managed Visa cards. But that information is not trivial to obtain.