diff --git a/backend/src/lib.rs b/backend/src/lib.rs
index b02b92c4..8d265088 100644
--- a/backend/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backend/src/lib.rs
@@ -61,7 +61,9 @@ pub fn set_rng_seed(seed: u64) {
 pub extern "C" fn __quantum__rt__initialize(_: *mut c_char) {
     SIM_STATE.with(|sim_state| {
         let state = &mut *sim_state.borrow_mut();
-        state.sim = QuantumSim::default();
+        // in order to continue using the same RNG, we need to reset the simulator
+        // and keep the same RNG
+        state.sim = QuantumSim::new(Some(state.sim.take_rng()));
         state.res = bitvec![];
         state.max_qubit_id = 0;
     });
diff --git a/runner/tests/resources/random-bit.bc b/runner/tests/resources/random-bit.bc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b255b657
Binary files /dev/null and b/runner/tests/resources/random-bit.bc differ
diff --git a/runner/tests/tests.rs b/runner/tests/tests.rs
index cc782080..dd39f491 100644
--- a/runner/tests/tests.rs
+++ b/runner/tests/tests.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
 // Licensed under the MIT License.
 
-use runner::{run_bitcode, run_file};
+use runner::{run_bitcode, run_file, OUTPUT};
 
 // This group of tests verifies the behavior of QIR execution with a series of quantum gate checks based on the Choi–Jamiołkowski Isomorphism.
 // They will verify the behavior of body, adjoint, controlled, and controlled adjoint specializations of each gate against decompositions thereof,
@@ -278,6 +278,46 @@ fn run_file_errors_on_missing_file() {
     );
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn run_file_random_seed_is_applied_and_persists_across_shots() {
+    OUTPUT.with(|output| {
+        let mut output = output.borrow_mut();
+        output.use_std_out(false);
+    });
+
+    let path = std::path::Path::new(env!("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR"))
+        .join("tests")
+        .join("resources")
+        .join("random-bit.bc");
+
+    // running 100 random shots with the same seed should be enough to ensure
+    // that the output is deterministic
+    let shots = 100;
+    let rngseed = 42;
+
+    let mut first_output = vec![];
+    let result = run_file(path.clone(), None, shots, Some(rngseed), &mut first_output);
+    assert!(result.is_ok());
+
+    let mut second_output = vec![];
+    let result = run_file(path, None, shots, Some(rngseed), &mut second_output);
+    assert!(result.is_ok());
+
+    let first_result = String::from_utf8(first_output).expect("output should be valid utf8");
+    let second_result = String::from_utf8(second_output).expect("output should be valid utf8");
+
+    // sanity check that the output has been captured
+    // if the output recording is accidentally set to stdout,
+    // this will fail.
+    assert!(
+        first_result.contains("OUTPUT	RESULT	1"),
+        "Ensure global output has use_std_out set to false"
+    );
+
+    // the output should be the same for each set of shots
+    assert_eq!(first_result, second_result);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn run_file_errors_on_missing_binding() {
     let bitcode = include_bytes!("resources/missing-intrinsic.bc");
diff --git a/sparsesim/src/lib.rs b/sparsesim/src/lib.rs
index a945e7c9..c6421d8c 100644
--- a/sparsesim/src/lib.rs
+++ b/sparsesim/src/lib.rs
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ pub(crate) enum FlushLevel {
 
 impl Default for QuantumSim {
     fn default() -> Self {
-        Self::new()
+        Self::new(None)
     }
 }
 
@@ -65,14 +65,14 @@ impl Default for QuantumSim {
 impl QuantumSim {
     /// Creates a new sparse state quantum simulator object with empty initial state (no qubits allocated, no operations buffered).
     #[must_use]
-    pub fn new() -> Self {
+    pub fn new(rng: Option<StdRng>) -> Self {
         let mut initial_state = SparseState::default();
         initial_state.insert(BigUint::zero(), Complex64::one());
 
         QuantumSim {
             state: initial_state,
             id_map: FxHashMap::default(),
-            rng: RefCell::new(StdRng::from_entropy()),
+            rng: RefCell::new(rng.unwrap_or_else(StdRng::from_entropy)),
             h_flag: BigUint::zero(),
             rx_queue: FxHashMap::default(),
             ry_queue: FxHashMap::default(),
@@ -84,6 +84,10 @@ impl QuantumSim {
         self.rng.replace(StdRng::seed_from_u64(seed));
     }
 
+    pub fn take_rng(&mut self) -> StdRng {
+        self.rng.replace(StdRng::from_entropy())
+    }
+
     /// Returns a sorted copy of the current sparse state as a vector of pairs of indices and complex numbers, along with
     /// the total number of currently allocated qubits to help in interpreting the sparse state.
     #[allow(clippy::missing_panics_doc)] // reason="Panics can only occur if the keys are not present in the map, which should not happen."
@@ -1288,7 +1292,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     #[should_panic(expected = "Duplicate qubit id '0' found in application.")]
     fn test_duplicate_target() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         sim.mcx(&[q], q);
     }
@@ -1297,7 +1301,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     #[should_panic(expected = "Duplicate qubit id '1' found in application.")]
     fn test_duplicate_control() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         let c = sim.allocate();
         sim.mcx(&[c, c], q);
@@ -1307,7 +1311,7 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     #[should_panic(expected = "Duplicate qubit id '0' found in application.")]
     fn test_target_in_control() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         let c = sim.allocate();
         sim.mcx(&[c, q], q);
@@ -1316,7 +1320,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// Large, entangled state handling.
     #[test]
     fn test_large_state() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let ctl = sim.allocate();
         sim.h(ctl);
         for _ in 0..4999 {
@@ -1332,7 +1336,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// Verify seeded RNG is predictable.
     #[test]
     fn test_seeded_rng() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         sim.set_rng_seed(42);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         let mut val1 = 0_u64;
@@ -1342,7 +1346,7 @@ mod tests {
                 val1 += 1 << i;
             }
         }
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         sim.set_rng_seed(42);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         let mut val2 = 0_u64;
@@ -1358,7 +1362,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// Verify that dump after swap on released qubits doesn't crash.
     #[test]
     fn test_swap_dump() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         let inner_q = sim.allocate();
         sim.swap_qubit_ids(q, inner_q);
@@ -1369,7 +1373,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// Verify that swap preserves queued rotations.
     #[test]
     fn test_swap_rotations() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let (q1, q2) = (sim.allocate(), sim.allocate());
         sim.rx(PI / 7.0, q1);
         sim.ry(PI / 7.0, q2);
@@ -1384,7 +1388,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// a no-op.
     #[test]
     fn test_rx_queue_nearly_zero() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         sim.rx(PI / 4.0, q);
         assert_eq!(sim.state.len(), 1);
@@ -1397,7 +1401,7 @@ mod tests {
     /// a no-op.
     #[test]
     fn test_ry_queue_nearly_zero() {
-        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new();
+        let mut sim = QuantumSim::new(None);
         let q = sim.allocate();
         sim.ry(PI / 4.0, q);
         assert_eq!(sim.state.len(), 1);