This research aims at examining the moderation role of investment opportunities in the effect of state ownership on risk-taking behavior. The financial data of non-financial listed firms in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh stock exchanges are collected from Bloomberg. The sample includes firm observations during the period from 2015 to 2020 with 2,664 firm-year observations. The paper finds that state ownership negatively affects corporate risk-taking behavior. Investment opportunities are found to moderate the negative impact of state ownership on corporate risktaking activities. The findings are robust by year-fixed effects along with clustered standard errors. Based on these findings, two policy recommendations are provided. First, state-owned firms should improve their corporate governance to deal with agency problems. Second, the government should consider policies to encourage state-owned firms to increase their risktaking behavior.