Seth Palansky responded to me.

Basically, he said that they aren't budging on this one, and that the login-through-social-media BS is staying.

The justification is that providing these updates costs money, and they have decided that they aren't willing to take on this expense anymore without some kind of tangible return.

Therefore, they are tying the updates to advertising their social gaming offerings, which they believe will provide them the return they're looking for.

I don't agree with this at all. The WSOP itself is a big profit center for Caesars. While WSOP.com itself may not be generating the money they had hoped, the WSOP itself is doing extremely well, and these updates should be considered an extension of the WSOP, rather than their online business (as these are updates for the LIVE events).

Or, simply put, for all the rake we pay, the hotel rooms we stay in, and the expensive food we eat, the least they can do is provide the update service for free.

Not every individual component of your business has to generate a profit.

Anyway, it's their decision. They're making the wrong one, but it's their mistake to make. Hopefully they will realize their error sooner rather than later.