An improved pseudo-random number generator is introduced that has increased security due to higher randomness and lower predictability. The PRNG uses seed values that are based on a combination of various selectable values from the real-world that are typically made publicly available over a computer network (i.e., the Internet), such as: one or more weather conditions at a particular time or date and geographic location, a score of a sports event, a stock market index or ticker value, an election vote total, attendance at a cultural event, gross dollar sales from a movie release, and other such numerically quantifiable values that, individually and in combination, are impossible to exactly predict in advance, yet are precisely verifiable after the number-generating event using electronically-stored information. The improved pseudo-random number generator may be used for more secure determination of lottery outcomes and the like.