Experts demand crackdown on illegal Botox and fillers lotteries
British beauty clinics offer Botox in illegal cosmetic lotteries, MailOnline announced today.
Our research revealed a dozen clinics running online raffles inviting Britons to buy tickets for as little as £5 for a chance to win treatment packages worth up to £650.
Campaigners accused those running the lotteries of using “dangerous tactics” to encourage Britons to undergo such treatments, including for prescription-only drugs.
And they warned that offering cosmetic procedures as prizes may downplay them and their potential consequences.
Such lotteries may contravene the UK’s gambling regulator, the Gambling Commission.
Simply Aesthetics London has a dedicated webpage for its monthly ‘Beautiful Raffle’
One of the prizes was a £650 facial contouring treatment, well above the £50 limit for legal corporate raffles
Simply Aesthetics London also reveal the winner via a digital roulette wheel on their Instagram page, as per UK betting rules such draws cannot be held online
Companies are not allowed to hold or promote raffles online, or offer more than £50 in prizes without a license.
Anyone caught breaking the rules risks nearly a year in prison and/or a fine of £5,000.
Several of the raffles could also violate separate rules about advertising prescription drugs such as Botox and vitamin B12 injections.
Violating these rules can lead to a fine and/or two years in prison.
One clinic, Simply Aesthetics London, is holding a monthly ‘Beautiful Raffle’ with £5 tickets being offered last month to win a £650 ‘face contouring’ treatment package.
While the procedure is not detailed, similar ones are advertised online that use dental fillers or other treatments to improve the shape of the face.
It also had £3 tickets to win £150 worth of a lip filler treatment for the perfect ‘pout’ and a £2 ticket to a £120 body fat dissolving treatment.
Like many other such lotteries, the winners are announced on the clinic’s Instagram page via a digital roulette wheel.
Clinic Emma Louise Beauty in Chichester also held an ‘Aesthetics Raffle’ for £10 per ticket.
One of the prices listed is Botox for three parts of the face, which normally retails for between £190 and £230.
Botox is the best-known brand of botulinum toxin, a substance used to paralyze facial muscles for the purpose of reducing wrinkles.
Another clinic, Kallista Aesthetics in Witham, Essex, ran a Christmas raffle where someone could win a range of treatments for £10 per ticket, including £150 worth of Botox.
Other clinic raffles seen by MailOnline included £260 permanent make-up treatments as prizes at £8 per ticket, and £2 to £10 tickets for prescription-only B12 and botulinum toxin injections.
The Gambling Commission says that while companies can run lotteries and raffles for their customers, they must adhere to strict rules.
These only include the sale of physical tickets in the actual place of business, with the draw to determine a winner also having to take place there.
Some clinics offered ‘Botox’ treatments as a prize in their raffles, like this ad from Emma Louise Beauty, which also urged people on social media to ‘DM’ them to buy tickets
Another like this one hosted by Kallista Aesthetics last Christmas also offered a ‘Botox’ prize, Botulinum Toxin is a prescription only drug which means it has strict rules regarding its promotion
Churchtown Aesthetics was another clinic to promote their business lottery and announce the winners online, something the Gambling Commission says is not allowed. The clinic also listed botox and B12 injections as potential prizes, both of which are prescription only
The Commission specifies that this cannot be done online and adds that prizes from the raffle and lottery cannot exceed £50.
Companies are also prohibited from making a profit on ticket sales and proceeds may only cover the costs of delivering the prizes and running the raffle.
It is unclear whether any clinics discovered by MailOnline that offer such lotteries made a profit from it.
If a raffle or raffle does not follow these rules, it must seek permission from the Commission or their local government, depending on the raffle ticket sales, to be allowed to hold the raffle.
None of the lottery clinics seen by MailOnline was listed in the Commission’s online register of licensed gambling companies.
The Commission told MailOnline that while it cannot comment on individual cases or websites, failure to comply with lottery rules could result in a prison sentence of up to 51 weeks and/or a fine of £5,000.
The government agency the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which enforces rules prohibiting advertising of prescription-only drugs, said offering them in the form of vouchers/coupons for an “unreasonably low amount” is also not allowed.
Companies that fail to comply with advertising or promotion restrictions for prescription-only drugs could face “both criminal and civil penalties,” the MHRA said.
Dawn Knight, of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners, a body dedicated to promoting good practice in the cosmetic industry, said such lotteries and “dangerous tactics” had no place in the UK aesthetic sector.
Campaigners have called on a clinic to stop offering raffles and sweepstakes for treatments, especially those involving prescription-only drugs
Arc Aesthetics, a clinic in East Grinstead, also offered B12 injections and lip filler as raffle prizes for tickets costing just £2 each
Georgia’s Sitpretti told MailOnline that they were unaware that such lotteries were illegal and would return money paid by customers
She added that clinics that run such raffles failed to mention many of the risks associated with the “prizes,” such as areas of the face that “freeze” if too much botulinum toxin is injected.
“The requirement of consultation, risk and appropriateness is never mentioned and this is the worst example of predatory advertising,” she said.
‘They cover up the risks with a cheap procedure.’
She added: “Anyone entering these lotteries may not realize or think that it is illegal and worth noting that they can get their money back.”
With ministers committed to setting up a licensing plan for the beauty industry this year, Ms Knight said it was time for the industry to clean up the way it promoted products.
“The industry should try to clean up the advertising of procedures, and in particular the illegal advertising of prescription-only drugs such as botulinum toxin and B12…let alone offering them as a prize,” she said .
MailOnline reached out to all clinics it found hosting and promoting raffles for comment.
Georgia’s Sitpretti told this website that they did not know that such lotteries were illegal and that they would return the money paid by customers.